


You Drive Me Batty

by friendofhayley



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bats, Canonical Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Interns & Internships, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Texas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendofhayley/pseuds/friendofhayley
Summary: “I’m not just talking about bats because I like the sound of my own voice—”Oh, so those dragon things had been bats? Louis squinted at the picture again.“I have just gotten word from a colleague who runs a bat conservatory in Austin, Texas, who is currently looking for an intern to work full-time during the summer holidays to help around the multiple sanctuaries."(Or, Louis competes for an internship only to spend an entire summer with some prick named Harry Styles in Texas.)





	1. You Suck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetmelodrama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetmelodrama/gifts).



> I just want to thank my amazing, incredible, awe-inspiring beta/brit-picker @toomanylarrytears for making this fic 100x better. It was great having a beta/cheerleader again, and you made this fic worthwhile! <3
> 
> I kind of twisted the prompt I was given, because wouldn't it be awesome if we got to see them at the internship? Hope my prompter likes it!

Louis tapped his pen against the overly expensive graphing calculator, one that he was required to get for this class even though they were more than halfway through the semester and hadn’t used it once. He sighed under his breath, eyes on the blackboard where Professor Peyton was going off on another tangent that involved badly-drawn animals. 

This time it was, Louis squinted, a squashed lizard? No, those were wings—a dragon? He hadn’t been listening, but Louis was pretty sure that dragons didn’t live in the rainforest, though he had some conspiracy theories on where they did live. Louis wasn’t sure why Wildlife Biology counted towards his degree, but it wasn’t like he was thinking with his brain while choosing his current course schedule. Besides, he had much more important matters to worry about.

It was Louis’ third year studying Veterinary Science, yet no one, not even his advisor, had informed him that the single most stressful thing he had to do during university was deciding what to do with his free time. Specifically, his summer holidays. 

Louis knew that if he went back to his hometown, where his sisters were, he would immediately run into his ex. Like _immediately_. He and Zayn were the only people in his year from Doncaster to head to the University of Bristol. They had a mutually messy breakup last term, conveniently after they had chosen their classes which meant this class was one of the lucky few they shared. 

After this term of independent study modules, multiple lectures and a placement that required him to go fist first into a cow, Louis knew that he didn’t have the mental stability to see his hot ex sauntering around their local Tesco. The prick would probably be squeezing avocados (like that’s a thing) to see which oily fruit was most ripe.

(Yes, Louis believed that avocados were fruits. They had seeds, didn’t they? So why the fuck did everyone enjoy them? Louis personally believed that he if ate fruit, hypothetically, he would want it to be refreshing, not greasy.) 

More to the point, Louis’ reluctance to going back home for the summer had absolutely nothing to do with this being the first summer since his mother had passed. Nope, nothing at all. It was all Zayn. Definitely.

The guy beside him let out a weird snort noise. Louis was distracted out of his rather entertaining inner monologue as Professor Peyton turned around. Louis affected an attentive expression, hoping that he appeared fully invested in the dragon tale. The main downfall to sitting in the front row was that Professor Peyton always looked at their reactions during her lectures. 

“Now,” she echoed in the large lecture hall, in the deadpan tone that reflected how much sleep she’d gotten that week, “I’m not just talking about bats because I like the sound of my own voice—”

(Oh, so those dragon things had been bats? Louis squinted at the picture again, _I guess those horns were actually just fangs?_ )

“I have just gotten word from a colleague of mine in the States who runs a bat conservatory in Austin, Texas that he is currently looking for an intern to work full-time during the summer holidays to help around the multiple sanctuaries around the city. Although Director Addison’s organization is not completely conventional, he is looking for a mentor with an excellent work ethic and a sunny personality.” 

Louis perked up; he had always wanted to visit America and an opportunity like this would solve his summer problem. 

“For those of you who may be wondering about the pay, my colleague is offering to pay a base stipend, along with providing your ticket to and from Austin, as well as free accommodation and board.” 

The handful of students in the lecture hall who were paying attention let out a chorus of “oohs” and “aahs.”

Professor Peyton let out a tired sigh. “However, this means that only one intern will be chosen. If you’re interested, come see me after class and I’ll explain more. Now off you go, all of you!”

Dr. Peyton was a lot of things and blunt was certainly one of them. Louis had to admire her for it. As Louis packed his things, he kept an eye out for anyone else intending to stay after the lecture. To his surprise, Weird Snorter Boy next to him was also taking his time. Louis was sure his name started with an H. Maybe Harley? Hunter, perhaps? Or Harold? Whoever he was, the bloke was wearing dangly earrings which meant he either wasn’t in a science field or was one of those slackers who didn’t care about lab rules. 

(Louis usually didn’t listen to excessive rules, but after the second girl had to go to the ER due to flip flop violations in his first year, he had grown to appreciate _some_ safety procedures.)

Louis gave the bloke another once over and noticed the guitar strapped to his back. This one definitely seemed like a slacker, he decided. If this was his only competition, Louis was very confident that he’d be spending his holidays in Texas. 

“Are you done?” a deep voice with a quick of laughter intoned beside him.

Louis jumped as Earing Boy looked him up and down. In his slightly startled state, Louis noticed that he had extremely green eyes. Louis hadn’t been aware that someone’s eyes could naturally be that green.

“So, did I pass?” Earing Boy asked, chuckling properly this time.

Louis stumbled over his words and winced at himself. “Um—well—no. What?”

“So I didn’t pass?” The green-eyed Creature asked, making an exaggerated pout.

“Good luck with that one.”

The sound of Zayn’s Yorkshire drawl as he passed the two on his way to his door shook Louis out of his stammering mess. Louis met Zayn’s eyes and felt something in his chest curl up as small as possible as the other boy smirked. Truthfully, with the leather jacket and unlit cigarette in hand, he looked like he belonged on the set of Grease. Distantly, Louis wondered if that was why he had fallen so desperately for the only other gay boy in his hometown. 

Louis opened his mouth only for Zayn to turn away and exit without a backward glance. Rude. 

Whatever, Louis thought, setting his lips in a firm, determined line. Louis ignored Harry’s beguiling smile and walked over to a muttering Professor Peyton.

“Er, Professor?” It took a few seconds for her to notice him beside her. “I just wanted to express my interest in the opportunity you mentioned earlier.” He gave her a toothy smile.

“Oh, is it just you?” Professor Peyton asked. She adjusted her glasses and dived into the pile of papers on the desk.

“Actually I’m interested too!” the douche with a guitar piped up, running up beside Louis.

Dr. Peyton made a noise of disinterest. “Here are the forms. Make sure to fill them out before the next class. They’re not important, it’s just to document this placement as legitimate for the school.” She adjusted her glasses again. “The real deal breaker is when my colleague comes to class to speak next week. You will both have 30 seconds after class to pitch exactly why _you_ are the perfect candidate for this internship.”

At the surprised look on both of their faces, she sighed. “Let’s just say my colleague isn’t exactly—well—conventional. Best of luck to you both,” she tried to surreptitiously glance at her course attendance list, “Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles.”

As they both walked out of the lecture hall in silence, Louis laughed mentally. This would be a piece of cake; all he had to do was do some research on this guitar-strumming, earring-wearing, snorting kid and then sabotage him so hard that he wouldn’t be able to stop stammering for 30 seconds.

The next question, however, was an important one that his entire operation hinged on: who exactly was Harry Styles?


	2. Just Winging It

For the past couple days, Harry had not sensed that he had a shadow, Louis noted. There were no suspicious pauses while the other boy realized that he had dual footsteps, nor dramatic declarations for anyone to show themselves. The other boy hadn’t shown any sign he knew about anything during the class where they submitted their forms.

He was sure this was partly because of Louis’ obsession with marathoning action movies, which taught him how to sneak out of sight; he was sure he would have been an incredible James Bond if he didn’t love animals so much. It also made more sense when he found out that Harry’s course was something in the Humanities, which explained why his head always seemed to be in the clouds.

While catching his breath behind a shrub (specifically the one next to the table Harry tended to eat lunch), Louis pondered on his life choices. Although this reconnaissance could count as research for an internship, he did still have multiple labs and modules due at the end of the weekend. Louis ignored his conscience and strained to listen to Harry’s phone conversation; he definitely heard “Texas” in Harry’s low drawl. Louis rolled his eyes as Harry let out another honking laugh that was quickly beginning to irritate him.

“Yeah, yeah, but like I said I’m kinda more interested because of the location. Although, I’m hoping that bats are really as adorable as you say,” Harry said. There was a pause. “Yeah, I know Gemma, but how am I supposed to tell them?”

Louis couldn’t imagine why someone would consider Texas an inviting destination; he didn’t really know about any of the other states in America, but he associated Texas with guns, cowboys and that dumb president who might have faked 9/11. The only good thing going for the state, in his opinion, was how far away it was from Donny.

“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I’ll broach the subject when I’m over there. I guess it’s a good thing I’m a first year then.” Another pause followed. “Oh, it’s just this one prat. I think the internship is in his field of study. I’m so glad I didn’t go into the sciences; he has a stick up his ass the size of his inflated head. But the programme guy is choosing us based on our personalities, I guess? Which means I’m going to get it, obviously, if he remains my only competition.”

Louis thought briefly of murder. 

He pictured himself yanking the pretentious floral guitar strap and then hitting the pretentious slow-talking prat with his pretentious acoustic guitar. Only the threat of prison kept him in his hiding spot. How dare this first year—a fucking _first year_ —accuse Louis William Tomlinson, drama nerd extraordinaire and in the top 2% of his class, of having neither the personality nor the qualifications to get this internship?

When Professor Peyton had first announced this program, Louis had been vaguely interested so that he would have a place to spend the summer. But now things were personal and he was going to steal this internship right from under this douchecanoe’s nose.

“...and then I totally wiped out and there was Worchester sauce everywhere. Okay, Gemma. Cheers for listening to me.” 

Louis heard a beep and a rustle on the other side of the bush. _Shit, shit, shit_. He desperately hoped that he was curled tight enough behind the shrubbery to miss the gaze of his nemesis.

“Come here often?” Harry stepped closer to the bush and smirked as he caught Louis’ reluctant eye. Harry rubbed the back of his neck and yawned as if Louis’ mere presence bored him. “But seriously, are you stalking me? There’s no way you’re just sitting here for no reason.”

Louis knew his ears were probably burning red right now. Doing a moving stakeout (which sounded way better than “stalking”) was only cool if he didn’t get caught. He briefly contemplated outright denial, but quickly realised that there had to be a way could get out of this situation with the upper hand.

Louis deliberately stopped thinking and looked up at Harry.

“Consider yourself warned, first year. You don’t deserve this internship. In fact, a flying hippopotamus deserves this internship more than you. _Brad_ ,” a student who often snored in class, “deserves this internship more than you! You don’t even know what the _world_ is like yet and I bet your major isn’t even vaguely related to bats anyway! What even _is_ your major, anyway?!”

“Social Policy and Politics, but I’m thinking of switching over Music with Innovation. But since bats send echolocation sounds it’s almost like they’re singing innovatively, don’t you think?” Harry sent him an exaggerated fake smile.

Louis aggressively rolled his eyes. At least, he hoped it looked like an aggressive eye roll and not like he had an eye twitch.

Harry paused. “Plus, how the fuck does veterinary science tie in with this internship? Are you preparing for the once in the lifetime client who brings their _pet bat_ to your clinic?” At Louis’ affronted expression, he continued, “Yeah, I know all about you. Louis Tomlinson, top of his class because he doesn’t talk to anyone or have any friends.”

Louis closed his mouth and ignored the pang in his chest. He clenched his jaw and drew himself up to full height. “You’re gonna regret that,” Louis replied, walking away to plot Harry’s demise. “You’re going to regret talking that shit.”

“Watch your battitude!” Harry yelled at his receding back, Louis’ eye twitched.

*

“How’s the stalking going?” Stan asked through a mouthful of cereal, as Louis stormed into their shared flat.

“I wasn’t st—” Louis heaved out a sigh, “Whatever. Do you still have that dummy from your CPR course?”

Stan hummed and pushed one of the seats they found on the curb with his foot. It slid out from underneath the table. Louis stared at it. The cover had a stain that looked like a sunflower, which is why Louis had taken it. Louis wondered if he was like that seat cover: whether people just kept him around because his flaws reminded others of better people, places, and things. 

Louis sighed and sat down. He needed food if he was getting this melodramatic.

“Yeah, Rescue Randy is in my closet. Do you need it now?”

Louis rolled over to his best friend and gave him a side hug as Stan continued chewing. He rested his head on Stan’s shoulder and sighed again.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

*

“Just— wait. Why do you need duct tape too? Are you going to kill him?” Stan demanded. “Please don’t tell me you need a rope and zip-ties too.”

“Kind of hard to graduate uni with a murder charge under my belt,” Louis muttered absently.

He pictured his plan in his head and decided that he had enough tape to cover the body. Louis nodded his head and donned a black turtleneck. 

“Mate, just tell me if I’m going to need to bail you out tonight.” Stan sounded worried, but Louis could see a hint of a smile on his best friend’s face. He remembered when they used to get in trouble and staying out into the wee hours after first getting assigned as flatmates in their first year. He felt bad for worrying him with his hermit mood lately. The only reason he was currently doing so well with his coursework was that it kept him from thinking about Zayn or his— just Zayn.

Louis smiled. “It’s just breaking and entering this time, lad. Don’t worry about little old me.”

*

Louis might have gravely misjudged how hard it would be to climb a hedge with a life-sized CPR dummy. Plus the turtleneck in this humidity did not help either. He deliberately did not think about the fact that the dummy was taller than him; it would just help him scare Harry The Prick even more.

 _1,2,3_. Louis hugged Rescue Randy to his chest, the dummy’s clothed legs jangling beneath him, as he jumped from the top.

“Oof!” 

Louis also deliberately ignored that landing on Randy was the most action he had seen in months. Thankfully he hadn’t dented the dummy’s stomach too much. Alright, step one cleared.

From his reconnaissance, he knew that Harry would be returning back to his dormitory in about thirty minutes, so he had time. 

Louis thanked the prank gods that his target was on the first floor as he jimmied the window open. He mentally sang the Pink Panther theme tune as he pushed Randy through the opening before dramatically rolling through the window. Sure, he should be doing his reading, but technically this was self-care.

As Louis assessed where best to place Randy in order to get the best reaction out of his nemesis, he had a problematic thought. How was he going to reach the ceiling? Cursing himself for not bringing Stan with him, Louis (rather futilely) searched through Harry’s closets for a ladder.

Louis sighed. He supposed it made sense that the giant prick didn’t own any ladders; he was built like a giraffe.

Louis assumed that he could just tape Randy right above the door so the dummy’s hands could brush Harry’s shoulders as he walked in. Louis stood on his tiptoes to assess how far away the top of the door was. His hand didn’t even reach the doorframe unless he was jumping, but he couldn’t very well jump the whole time.

Louis hummed and searched for any particularly high chairs. 

*

Twenty minutes had passed and Louis had begun to panic. 

Louis clapped his hands and imagined that this was just a problem on an exam. He opened one of the closets again and slowly assessed the contents. There was a large bin of quinoa (something that only furthered Louis dislike of Harry). Or maybe it was rice? Louis didn’t cook so he didn’t know what raw things looked like. Either way, the bin looked tall enough that he could reach the top of the doorframe if he didn’t crack it. Louis didn’t really have any other options, so he dragged the clear bin over to the door and began the task of taping up Randy.

By the time he was satisfied, the CPR dummy was dangling sideways with his arms outstretched. The scene literally looked like something out of a horror movie, but Louis felt like it was missing something. 

He took a permanent marker from Harry’s fridge and stepped onto the bin again.

Louis smiled to himself. Perfect.

*

_Tap, tap, tap._

Louis jumped and hastily pushed the bin back into the closet before hurtling himself out of the window. He slammed the window back down before deciding to leave a sliver open, just as the doorknob started to turn. Louis ducked down, while still looking into the darkened room, as the door swung open.

Almost as if following stage directions, Harry stepped through the room, right into Randy’s arms. The plastic fingertips touched his neck and Harry let out a high, panicked shriek at the contact. 

Louis had to cover his mouth to stifle his giggles, as Harry wildly fumbled to slam the light switch on, his heavy breathing audible from outside. With the light, the words, written in bright red Sharpie became visible, scrawled across the dummy’s bare stomach. 

He must not have been that quiet as Harry turned around and made eye contact with him. Louis quietly gasped as the other boy sent him a challenging look before turning to get a broom from one of the closets. 

Harry maintained deadpan eye contact as he smacked Randy down with his broom, deliberately smacking the words: “YOUR MOVE.”


	3. Suck It Up

Louis woke to the feeling of the sun beating on his face.

There was a patch of grass underneath him and sunflowers around him and a finger running across his cheek. Louis jumped at the feeling before he realized it was just Harry smiling down at him. Harry’s beaming face was blocking the harsh rays from getting into Louis’ eyes. His boy leaned down, green eyes twinkling down at him, and kissed him on the lips. Louis threaded his fingers through the blades of grass. He allowed himself a moment to close his eyes and appreciate the simple perfection of the moment with Harry. Everything was perfect and nothing hurt.

Harry smelled like chocolate and Louis smiled into the kiss. A hand caressed his hair and travelled down his neck, sensually travelling further down to his stomach and then...

“Louis!” Harry shouted. “Did the heist go well? You didn’t text me!”

“What,” he mumbled back, confused by Harry’s loud, distant voice that was somehow disconnected from the lips he was kissing. Louis let his mouth fall open for Harry to plunder as his body suddenly became cold. He groaned into this kiss and sighed until something soft hit his face repeatedly.

There was another shout, wordless this time. A harsh beeping noise and then something harder hit him in the face.

“Louis! You’re going to be late for your class! The important one! Get out of bed, you absolute tosser!”

Louis opened his eyes—for real this time—to see Stan standing above him with one of Louis’ textbooks in his hands, brandished like a weapon above his head.

“What?” Louis rubbed his eyes as his brain continued to buffer. Where was Harry? The Harry from his dream? And where was he?

“Tommo!” Stan shrieked. “You need to leave, _now_! I can’t see you mope around for another six months because you missed your interview for the internship!”

At those words, Louis’ brain came back online and he jumped onto his feet. He grabbed the top shirt on the pile of laundry stacked on his chair and a pair of jeans on the floor and frantically pulled them on, to the sounds of Stan cheering him on.

“Knock them dead, Tommo!” Stan hollered before shoving his backpack and a bagged lunch into his arms, as Louis dazedly moved to the door, “good luck!”

*

As Louis stumbled towards the building where Wildlife Biology was held, he couldn’t stop thinking about the sunflower dream. It had felt so real; he remembered the feeling of the sun beating down on him, the smell of the flowers and the feeling of those soft, pillowy lips…

No. Louis shook his head aggressively as if the motion could get the thoughts out of his head. It was just the fact that he had been thinking about Harry late last night, giddy from how well the prank went. His subconscious had just taken those thoughts and then created a romantic dream about his archnemesis, that was it.

But those feelings for Harry that bloomed in his chest during his dream… Those feelings had felt more real than anything else.

Which was crazy! Louis hit his head multiple times as he opened the door into the building. He just needed a cuppa—that would make everything okay. Or, at the very least, normal. He just felt weird today because he hadn’t had time to make one, that was all.

The tall giraffe on his mind suddenly appeared in front of him with a steaming cup of something. 

Oh no, he read minds. Louis pointedly averted his eyes.

“Hey, Louis! I just wanted to say, no bad feelings from last night. I feel like we both let our competitive streaks run wild, and I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any bad blood between us before we meet the program director.”

Louis gulped and stared at Harry’s ears. They weren’t featured in his dreams and everything was fine.

“So I made you something as a peace offering between us!” Harry said, thrusting the cup in Louis’ face.

Louis took the cup that had been shoved into his face. He took a small sniff. It smelled...different.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just got you a plain cup of coffee.”

“Oh,” Louis looked down at the dark contents, he didn’t remember the last time he drank coffee. The bitter fumes that were burning his nostrils was probably normal, right? Either way, he really needed caffeine at the moment, so he might as well.

Harry stared excitedly at him as Louis took a sip. It tasted...bad. He didn’t know why everyone went crazy about the drink. Louis shrugged and then chugged the whole thing, the salty taste immediately waking him up.

Harry stared at him with wide eyes, looking back at him and the empty cup, and let out a squeak.

“Thanks, mate.” Louis gave him a tired nod and threw the cup into recycling, before walking into the lecture hall.

As the screen at the front of the hall slowly rolled down, Louis glanced around the room. There was a blonde-haired man at the back of the room that Louis hadn’t seen before, who looked far too perky for an 8 o’clock class. Next to him was a scruffy man with a stoic expression, encased in a sleeping bag. Louis definitely sympathized with him more.

At that thought, the second man looked straight at Louis with unreadable eyes and he jumped at the scrutiny.

“I wonder which one of them is the programme director,” Harry said from beside him, already arranging his gel pens next to his notebook. “What do you think?”

(If Louis had looked at Harry right then, he would have seen Harry gazing at him with something like respect. Something that started as a seed from seeing Louis completely circumvent the prank that involved a bag of salt and coffee. Something that finally saw Louis as a worthy competitor and the beginning of Harry’s downfall involving his internship.

But he didn’t.)

“Alright, the screen’s finally down so class has officially begun!” Professor Peyton called out. She took a long swig of what Louis hoped involved caffeine. “Today is a special day due to two important guests who will be observing our lecture. Please welcome my future teaching assistant for next semester’s class, Teagan Reynolds, and my colleague all the way from Texas, Director Addison. And now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about how fungi are essential to the food chain in the rainforest!”

As animated clipart of a mushroom filled up the screen, Harry leaned over. “Do you know why the mushroom was invited to the party?”

Louis wasn’t thinking of Harry’s lips. He was totally fine and his main worry was just on the 30-second interview after class, and then he was going to celebrate getting the internship with some Mickey D’s with Stan. Everything was fine and he was just tired after a crazy, out-of-left-field dream.

“Because he was a fungi!” Harry whisper-shouted.

Louis felt Harry staring at him expectantly, and he glanced at Harry’s ear again. “Er, yeah.” He was pretty sure the other boy had asked him a question, but he wasn’t sure what it had been.

For the rest of the lecture, Louis doodled and thought about what he would say to the programme director, resolutely ignoring the boy beside him. 

*

Before he knew it, Director Addison was standing in front of them in the now-empty lecture hall. He had finally emerged from his sleeping bag cocoon and had literally unearthed mud-caked boots and the most wrinkled slacks Louis had ever seen. Louis fidgeted with his hands; he was usually so suave with his past professors and bosses and wasn’t used to feeling overwhelmed like this.

“Er,” Harry and Louis both started at the same time.

“I literally cannot stand another minute of this, Shelly,” The director stated gruffly, his stare intensified by the deep bags underneath his eyes. “I knew you Brits were super polite, but this is too much.”

Professor Peyton smiled thinly, “I’m sure they’re just nervous because they admire you so much.” When the director turned back to look at them, she glared at them to do something. “They’re usually engaged in class. And, unfortunately, these two were the only ones who applied.”

“Alrighty. Let’s start with something easy.” Addison pointed at Louis, “Who are you?”

Louis stepped forward, feeling like he was auditioning for the bloody X Factor, “I’m Louis Tomlinson.”

Addison waved his hand for more, his facial expression not changing from the apathetic stare zeroed on him. Louis wasn’t sure why the director was looking for an intern with a “sunny personality” when he looked like he was better suited to work at a morgue.

“Er, I’m 22, a veterinary student and it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” 

“Okay, hooray, I know that you’re a university student. Good for you,” Addison said, deadpan. “That still doesn’t tell me who you really are, why you’re taking this class, why you’re so interested in working for me, or why you seem to be so obsessed with sunflowers.” Louis froze, before looking at his hand that was covered in doodles of sunflowers. 

Betrayed again by his subconscious, Louis gritted his teeth and hoped he didn’t look like he was snarling at the director.

Addison examined his stiff stance and turned towards Harry. “Let’s give Louis a break. You, who are you?”

“I’m gay,” Harry supplied before freezing up., “Ur, and I really like music and I took this class because I’m trying to find out who I am and what I want to do with my life. Which I guess is really why I want this internship so much; I hope I find myself and get a new battitude.”

There was a tense silence as Addison eyed Harry warily. Professor Peyton took a loud sip of her coffee.

“Let’s go back to Louis,” Addison said after a moment.

Louis’ mind had suddenly gone blank. “Er, well, I want to work for you because Texas sounds as far away from my hometown as possible which is what I need right now. And also bats are cute.” Louis tried to remember the other questions Addison had asked and forget what he just said, “And I took this class because I feel like it’s important to know the peripheral subjects for when I open my own veterinarian practice in the future. And I’m batsexual.” _Fuck_. “I mean I’m bisexual!”

Addison raised an eyebrow and turned around. “Shelly, why are these boys telling me their sexualities?”

Professor Peyton took another sip of coffee. “Pat, do I look like I’m paid enough to know what millennials are thinking?”

The director contemplated that before turning back to them. “Alright, I’ve made my decision.”

Fuck, that was fast. Louis closed his eyes, ready for his soul to be crushed. _Bats are cute? Batsexual?_ The director probably thought he had a bat kink or something worse.

“I want both of you.”

Louis’ jaw dropped. _Both_ of them?

“Excuse me?” Harry blurted out, looking like an exploding frog. But an adorable one, like one of those multicoloured, poisonous ones in the rainforest. 

“I know when I told Professor Peyton about the internship I made it clear that I could only accept one student. But after meeting y’all, I feel like having both of you on the team would work best. Fortunately, I can move some things around to accommodate y’all.”

That apathetic stare was his face when he liked people? Louis shuddered to think of how Addison looked when he looked disappointed.

“However, this decision is up to y’all because either way there’s only one cabin that you both will have to share. It’s not a luxurious cabin so y’all will be in close quarters. Is that alright?”

Harry looked at him with excited eyes. Louis dreaded to think what these ‘close quarters’ would look like. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to spending yet even more time with Harry but, either way, he would be an ocean away from Donny.

“We’ll do it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to guess who actually wrote the request for an intern with an "excellent work ethic and a sunny personality"?


	4. You Bat-ter Believe It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a disclaimer, the Keanu Reeves featured is based on the caricature he played of himself in Always Be My Maybe, which everyone should watch by the way. Basically, Keanu's caricature walked from the movie straight into this fic.

Louis hadn’t ever been outside of England apart from a short holiday to France when he was little. The only thing he remembered from that outing, however hazy his memory of it was, featured a lot of crying from the feeling of being in a tunnel under the sea. Travelling should only be done on things with wheels, in his humble opinion; the fact that Louis was going to trust his life to a tiny tin contraption for 15 hours had slipped Louis’ mind for the last month of classes. 

While he was young, though, Louis had a purse or sleeve to cling to when he was scared. Louis sighed and looked at his companion, who was currently swinging his head around, making the pom-poms hanging from the brim of his ridiculous hat hit his ridiculous face. 

The oversized, floppy sun hat was a putrid, olive green with bright flamingos embroidered on the sides. The worst part was the aforementioned small pom-poms hanging from the brim, that were a mix of that sickly green and faded orange. Overall, nothing matched and Louis felt a bit queasy just looking at the fashion disaster.

Louis didn’t think he would be clinging to anything related to his trip partner if he happened to feel ill on board the aeroplane.

Louis readjusted his posture on the hard plastic chair outside the terminal and contemplated taking a quick kip before their flight was called. Because Addison had chosen two interns, their tickets to America were cheaper than intended which meant a super long flight. They had an 8-hour delay in Madrid and, if Louis was travelling with anyone else, he would have jumped at the chance to explore Madrid. As it was, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to bear another minute of Harry’s company, especially after he had threatened to start speaking Spanish. As if _Harry_ could speak Spanish.

After his brief mental breakdown the day they met Addison, Louis had thankfully recovered. So what if his subconscious had concocted a hellscape that featured sunflowers and kissing the snorting prick? He’d once had a dream that involved a talking catsup bottle and turning into an oversized joint but that didn’t mean he was going to start talking to his condiments at home, was he?

Harry, still enraptured by the pom-poms attached to his hat, hummed thoughtfully. “Do you think Addison is a vampire?” He asked.

This summer was going to kill him, Louis decided, and then he was going to rise from the dead and kill Harry himself. The shit this boy came out with, honestly. Louis took a sip of his tea and pointedly ignored Harry. Sure, Addison looked like a sleep-deprived corpse. And yeah, the director always spoke in a monotone voice. Not to mention the fact that he worked with bats and was often encased in a sleeping bag whenever they Skyped with him.

_Oh my god._

Louis nearly spat his tea onto the already sticky airport floor. Maybe he would actually die during this trip.

Harry turned to Louis. His eyes were still an annoying bright green that should not be allowed. Louis hated the feeling that would bubble in his chest whenever they made eye contact. Harry knew exactly what he was doing, looking at him all the time with that wide-eyed, expectant expression, as though he was genuinely interested in hearing what Louis had to say. Because Harry was an asshole. An unconventional asshole, perhaps, but an asshole nonetheless.

“You just realised I’m right, didn’t you?” Harry snorted, and it was not adorable at all. It was like an annoying piglet snuffling. 

“Why are you wearing that hat? It’s hideous.” Louis took a judgemental sip of his tea, peering at Harry over the brim with one eyebrow raised.

“Oh, this old thing?” Harry swatted one of the pom-poms again. Louis twitched, itching to smack one of Harry’s paws so he would pay attention to Louis’ judgement. “I heard Texas is sunny, so I thought we should be prepared.”

_We?_ Louis watched in horror as Harry produced an identical sun hat from his carry-on bag. It looked a little less sickly, in more suitable light blue with neon cactuses embroidered along it. But the dreaded pom-poms were still swinging under the brim in a faded yellow. The more Louis stared at it, the more he realized it was actually—to his horror—cute.

“And!” Harry stretched the word out as he fiddled with the hat. “This one’s special!” 

He leaned over into Louis’ personal space and placed the hat on his head. Louis felt his breath catch as he realised how close Harry’s face was to his. Harry’s tongue peeked out as he concentrated at something next to Louis’ hair, and Louis can’t help as his eyes wander over his face. 

It was unfair that someone so annoying could be so fit. The little nose scrunch Harry did when he was concentrating was too distracting and his eyelashes were too long. And those lips were definitely not allowed. Louis wet his perfectly reasonably sized lips as he glanced at those undoubtedly soft lips that looked like they would be more fitting on Snow White than on a nineteen-year-old prick. He wondered if they were as pillowy as they had been in the dream.

Louis jumped out of his musings as he felt calloused fingers fiddle with something under his chin. Harry leaned back, “Ta-da!”

Louis felt under his chin and registered that his hat was a literal bonnet that tied up into a neat bow, making him essentially look like a very grumpy toddler. Harry was giggling in his chair as Louis arrived (albeit a little late) at this realization.

“I’m going to kill you,” Louis growled, sitting up.

“Terminal 14 for Madrid will begin boarding now!” the intercom screeched, stopping Louis’ rampage in its tracks.

Harry giggled like a schoolgirl as he got up and ran for the terminal. Little did he know he could run, but he couldn’t hide from Louis’ wrath.

*

It turned out he _could_ actually hide from Louis’ wrath as their seats to Madrid were on different sides of the plane. Addison said he had tried the best he could to make sure they were at least on the same flights. And, of course, Harry’s seat partner looked like a chatty granny. Before the plane even took off, Louis could see the older women proudly showing pictures of her children to an excited Harry. He glared at the side of Harry’s face as he made an outrageous expression at whatever was in the woman’s hand.

“Oh, did you want to sit with your boyfriend? I’m sure I could ask to switch seats?” a husky   
American voice spoke over Louis’ head.

Louis sighed, so his seatmate had decided to show up last minute. Well, if this bloke thought he was going to take Louis’ prime window seat then—the words registered in his mind. _Boyfriend?_

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Louis blurted before looking up and choking on his tongue, and _holy shit_.

“Well, that’s good to know,” Keanu Reeves smiled down at him. “Nice hat.”

*

“—and so I’m covered in applesauce and I say, ‘I’m worried about Walter,’” he told Keanu. He knew this was his most impressive veterinary studies story, but Louis had to say nobody had ever gazed so intensely at him as Keanu did. The fact that they were flying 9 kilometres in the sky flew from his mind as soon as he had recognized his seat partner.

“Louis…” Keanu’s eyes pierced his, putting his whiskey back on the small tray table, “I love your spirit that is so daring to go after your dreams. I can feel the universe telling me that you are going to be a brilliant veterinarian someday.” God, if anyone else had just said that sentence in Louis’ presence he would have gone off on them. “But I can feel something sad in your soul that is drowning your light. Would you like to talk about it?”

Louis’ breath caught as Keanu smiled warmly at him. Throughout the last year, no one had actually straight out asked what Louis was confronting beyond his academic life. Against his will, Louis felt tears come to his eyes at the pure honesty coming from Keanu’s eyes.

“I broke up with my boyfriend of four years about six months ago. We grew up together, everyone used to joke that we would be married by the time we graduated from university. And it really seemed like it would happen. Everything was going to plan. I mean, we went to the same school. I thought he was always going to be there for me. Until he wasn’t. And part of me just hates him for leaving me without any warning. And then another part of me wonders if I was just ignoring the signs.” Louis looked down at his lap, squirming under Keanu’s scrutiny. “And that part wonders if I’m ignoring the fact that everyone else in my life is just tired of me too.”

Keanu nodded seriously. Louis realized that nobody could listen to him more objectively or was so separated from his personal life than a celebrity, and it gave him an addictive sense of inhibition and anonymity.

“But that’s not all.” Keanu paused, reaching out and putting a warm hand on Louis’ shoulder, tugging him closer. Louis went willingly, looking down and not noticing green eyes glaring at the two from across the aisle. “I know there’s something deeper cloying at your soul.”

Louis let out a sudden, humourless laugh. “No, that’s not all.” He took in a large breath and closed his eyes, but the words wouldn't come out.

“Sometimes when I’m feeling blocked, my guru will tell me to take three deep breaths and just let whatever is on my mind tumble out on my last exhale. Why don’t you try it, Louis?”

Louis took in a few deep breaths, feeling completely ridiculous before Keanu motioned at him.

“We found out my mum was sick in my last year of college. And they told us it wasn’t terminal.” Louis glanced at Keanu, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. “And everything seemed fine, the treatments were working and she seemed to be getting better. But then,” Louis let out a quiet sigh, “last year, she had a relapse and everything was so unexpected and suddenly she was gone. My best friend in the world was gone. And the only person I ready had was Zayn, but then he left too.” Louis sniffed.

“You’re strong,” Keanu said, wiping a tear from his face. “But it sounds like you’ve been relying on plans and certainty, and when those were ripped away, you lose a piece of yourself.” He squeezed Louis’ shoulder and smiled. “I think the first step to finding yourself again is to gain a spontaneous attitude, Louis.” 

Keanu paused, “Louis… would you like to have sex?”

Louis gaped at the famous actor. He’d expected maybe a hug or a generous offer to autograph something, but never an invitation to the mile high club. He shouldn’t have expected something normal from the celebrity, he supposed, and it certainly sounded spontaneous.

“I’ll go to the bathroom first, and if you want,” Keanu gave him a mysterious smile, “follow me in a couple of minutes. Don’t feel pressured, Louis, but it would be a pleasure to meld souls with you for just a moment.”

Louis watched Keanu get up and sidle up to the unisex bathroom on their side of the plane before he stared into space. What the hell? Was he actually going to have sex with Keanu Reeves?

“Am I going to do it?” Louis murmured under his breath incredulously. Of course, he was going to do it. It being fucking Keanu Reeves.

He hastily unbuckled his aeroplane belt, not noticing a confused stare watching him march down the aisle, and marched in the direction of the bathroom without a second thought.

*

“He could practically read my mind,” Louis gushed because he very well couldn’t tell anyone else at the moment, and it wasn’t like he cared what Harry thought. “Kissed me like he was my therapist that could see into my soul. I’m pretty sure I have stubble burn everywhere now.” Louis lowered his voice, “ _Everywhere_.”

Harry grumbled into his wine. But his words were lost in the chaos of noise surrounding them on the quaint, Spanish street corner.

He twirled his sangria glass and sighed into the distance, this was the start to a wonderful summer.

“I didn’t know people wanted to have sex with their therapists nowadays,” Harry muttered. His face had been set in a constant pout ever since they had reunited outside of the Madrid airport. It wasn’t Louis’ problem that he was sulking about not getting to sit next to a celebrity. 

Louis sent Harry a glare, wishing that his acidic stare would make him go away and stop spoiling his having-sex-with-Keanu-Reeves story. “Ha ha, very funny. Nothing is going to ruin my good mood, so don’t even try.”

He got up to get another round before they had to head for their next flight and missed Harry’s despondent sigh.

(“The Matrix sucked anyway.”)

*

By the time they were seated for their second flight, Louis felt thoroughly tipsy. He had a conjoined seat with Harry this time, and he couldn’t wait to sleep for 10 hours as they made their way across the Atlantic. But it looked like a pissed Harry was a talkative one.

“So, like, what other internships have you done with animals? Like, where do you go?”

Christ, how had Louis never noticed how slowly Harry talked? The other boy’s hands were flying everywhere and one of them narrowly missed Louis’ head.

Louis felt a bit chilly and searched around for a blanket. “Most of them were in the country, right outside of the city.” He cried out victoriously when he found a large blue blanket. “So most of my placements involved helping lots of cows and sheep give birth. Although I’ve had some opportunities with puppies and kittens.”

Harry sighed, “I love babies.” 

Louis let out a laugh as he began to lay the blanket out on Harry’s chest. “Yeah, I noticed when you were practically glowing looking at those photos with that granny.”

As Louis sat back and began pulling the blanket onto his chest, he noticed Harry smiling at him. “What?”

Harry shook his head. “I just like seeing you smile. You look so different.” A ringed finger almost took out his eye. “You, like, get laughter lines and you look like the sun.”

“I look like the sun,” Louis repeated incredulously, failing at hiding his growing smile.

Harry giggled, far too loudly. “Yeah! I mean I love seeing you make that annoyed face at me too. And I like knowing that I put that there because you just look so cute.” Harry snorted, completely unceremonious. “Like, your face when I took out your hat was fucking priceless.”

Louis watched as Harry literally slapped his knee, his eyebrows rising at the motion. Sometimes it felt like Harry was a hipster douche, while at other times it felt like he was travelling with a grandpa. He was an enigma and one that Louis was rapidly learning more about, but not against his will necessarily.

In the dim light of the plane and the absolute stillness in the cabin, Harry looked enchanting. For once, Louis was drunk enough to admit that he wanted to learn more about Harry.

“So why is a Social Policy student so interested in bats, then?” Louis teased, nudging Harry’s side.

Harry’s entire demeanour changed as he shrank away from Louis. Gone was the tipsy boy gesturing about the sun and replaced by him was a boy who looked uncharacteristically stern. “What does it matter to you?”

Louis stuttered, utterly confused and at odds to what he was meant to say. Harry’s attitude towards him had altered so quickly and without warning that Louis was at odds as to how he should react to pry Harry out of his shell. 

“I’m going to sleep,” Harry looked away, pausing for a moment before muttering, “Sorry. But I... can’t right now.”

Louis bit his lip and cursed his inability to keep his mouth shut. Fucked it up again.


	5. Let's Hang

After going through the ordeal of US customs, Louis wanted to dramatically drop everything and just sleep on any available horizontal surface, decorum be damned. There were too many cowboy hats—most of which competed with Harry’s hideous cap in size—in this airport, and Harry’s dickish attitude had been a constant, grumpy shadow since their conversation on the plane. It was getting to the point that Louis felt like Harry was just another suitcase to lug around.

“Do you want to get some food before we head to the cabin?” Louis asked, looking back.

Behind him, Harry quickly averted his gaze and pretended to look interested in his newly converted American money. Now that was the last straw, Louis thought. American dollar bills were so fucking boring and dirty, and Harry’s eyes were still half-open from the bright Texas sun shining through the airport windows.

Louis stopped in the middle of the atrium. It seemed he had to be the adult in their “friendship” for once. Louis took a moment for himself, closed his eyes and whined internally before fully turning around. It wouldn’t make sense for the two interns from the University of Bristol to be constantly at each other's throats _externally_ for the whole summer. 

Louis marched up to Harry. “Can we just call a truce for right now so you can stop all _this_ weirdness?” he said, gesturing towards where Harry’s money-laden hands had dropped to his sides. 

Harry gave him a squinty glare followed by an incapacitating yawn from his whole body. “Fine,” he mumbled. “But only if you wear the hat I gave you so we can find each other if we get separated.”

Louis turned his head slightly so he could roll his eyes freely before sighing. He was pretty sure if either of them got lost in the airport they could just track the other by just finding the only other person with a British accent. 

“Fine.”

*

They had already asked for directions twice and Louis was just about at the end of his tether.

“And you said you were from Liverpool?” the woman asked, batting her eyelids obviously at Harry in the passenger seat. “Is there anything you’re trying to _find_ ,” she paused with a sultry smile, “while you’re here?”

“Oh my God,” Louis muttered under his breath, pulling a face. Harry had obviously said Bristol when she asked, but it seemed this woman had a Beatles fetish (as well as her very blatant infatuation with Harry).

“Er, yes, the bat conservatory I just asked you about?”

For the third time this trip, a sleepy Louis considered suggesting they give up and live in the rental car with the A/C on full blast. He gazed through the visible heat waves radiating around them and noticed a sign with a bat drawn on it.

“Harry, I think I’ve found it,” Louis said suddenly before gunning the engine and abandoning the uncooperative woman.

Louis’ eyes widened as they rolled along the gravel that marked the Wild Basin Preserve. A thick mass of trees obscured the majestic waterfall, which peeked through the tree gaps as the car passed by. It was truly a sight to behold; the water glistening beneath the Texas sun, the birds chasing each other in coordinated flocks above and Harry’s quiet intake of breath beside him. Harry rolled down the window as the sticky heat rolled in along with the sound of the wild preserve, and Louis didn’t even pause to complain. Enormous, black iridescent birds with multicoloured, glossy feathers flew around the car and screeched at each other. Grackles, Louis mind supplied, remembering Addison complain about the native Texan birds during their video prep calls. A couple of hikers flashed through the trees with dogs jogging along beside them, panting heavily. 

“I’m glad I brought my work-out clothes,” Harry said into the merciful breeze.

The trees abruptly faded away as a highway appeared. Across the zooming cars, a large sign with a cartoon bat painted on read: ‘Bat Conservation International.’

From there it was easy to find the address of the cabin, tucked right behind one of the official-looking buildings. Different shades of wood—chestnut, oak, and honey—covered the outside wall, except for the brick chimney attached to the side. There was a newer porch wrapped around the front accompanied with a bench swing and a couple of old rocking chairs. Hopefully, it would have a working bathroom and wi-fi. Louis couldn’t wait to see his—their—bedroom.

Harry charged out of the car and grabbed his two duffel bags, leaving Louis the job of trying to park a car while sitting in the wrong side of the car. It was entirely disorienting and Louis was highly convinced that he was going to forget the very crucial ‘The colonies drive on the right’ rule in a moment of blind panic at some stage during this trip.

“It looks like Addison left something out of his Skype calls,” Harry called out, nervously, from the open door of the cabin. Louis struggled to drag behind his multiple bags, not eager to find out whatever grim surprise their bedroom was about to reveal. The cabin didn’t exactly look like a glamorous ski lodge from the outside, and Louis wasn’t expecting the height of luxury inside it.

When he got to the entrance, Louis contemplates just moving into one of the bat caves so his life didn’t have to be influenced by any more of Addison’s plot twists. Why had he accepted both of them as interns without bothering to get a second bed?

Because there was just _one_ bed—a queen at least, but only one nonetheless—in the bedroom-slash-entrance of the cabin. Attached to the room, because there were no walls or doors apart from what Louis supposed led to their _shared_ bathroom, was a kitchen about half the size of their bedroom space. Although the cabin looked bigger on the inside, the bedroom space didn’t look like it could fit another mattress on the floor.

Harry frowned, a furrow appeared between his brows as he investigated the ajar door on the opposite wall.

“At least they gave us a shower curtain,” Harry grumbled after his short inspection.

This absolute catastrophe was just something Louis would have to think about later, or he would go insane. Sunflowers flickered in his mind before he tamped down the feelings that he now associated with them. He couldn’t imagine how sharing a bed—because, at the moment, that seemed to be the only available option—would transpire without one of them killing the other in the process. Sunflowers and reminiscing about a dream had absolutely nothing to do with the situation, Louis told himself firmly. 

“Er, okay, here’s what we’ll do,” Louis directed, his older brother syndrome emerging in full force. “One: no offence, but we both stink so we’re both going to take showers. And two: we’re going to find the strongest non-diluted alcohol we can find in this American savanna so we don’t have to think about tonight.”

Harry stared at him, “But I’m not 21.”

“I’m going to pretend for my sanity you didn’t just say that. I can’t—” Louis groaned and threw up his hands. “You just—literally _hours ago_ —drank alcohol on the plane. You know what? Just don’t talk until I’m in the shower.” Louis dug through his checked bag for the skimpiest clothes he could find unless he wanted to melt as soon as he stepped outside. The A/C in this cabin better not give out halfway through the summer or else Louis was going to show it the wrath of Tommo.

*

Shortly after he was scrubbed clean of old sweat and was now starting to sweat in different clothes, Louis scrolled on his phone waiting for Harry to finish styling his hair so they could go to the store. Stan mentioned that the last time he went to America the beer was so diluted that it was practically like bitter water. Louis wondered if he should risk drinking rum after the last time when he made out with Rescue Randy. That was a sad night for both of them. Maybe being in America would improve his chances of sleeping with someone. They liked British accents here, right? If Louis could remember one lesson from ‘Love, Actually’, it was that fact.

Although now it turned out that he would already be sleeping with a guy every night. Louis wondered if Harry wore actual pyjamas to bed. He seemed the pretentious sort who either wore silk pyjamas with his initials embroidered in the chest pocket or went in the nude every night, depending on his mood.

At that thought, a _shirtless_ Harry strode out of the cabin. Louis promptly choked on his spit. 

There were tattoos everywhere. And muscles. Holy Christ. Louis felt like he needed a fan for a vastly different reason than the heat. As Louis opened his mouth and desperately tried to remember how to form words—was he even capable of speech, he thought distractedly—an overly enthusiastic voice came out from behind the cabin.

“Okay, but what about ‘got bats?’ It would be like a throwback to those ‘got milk?’ commercials! And then on the back, there’d be a whole PSA on what to do if you encounter bats around your home!”

Two buff, brunette men appeared, deep in conversation. The one gesturing and talking excitedly had a buzzcut and was wearing a black shirt with cutoff sleeves that had: ‘Save the bats’, written on it inside an outline of a bat. His companion, who wore a similar shirt that had: ‘Radar Love’ underneath a comic of an upside-down bat, responded with just a cackle.

“You’re so crazy, man.” The man wiped a tear from his eye.

“I’m just saying we need another shirt idea! We’ve only got two boring shirts so far and we need to raise more money for the conservation. So why can’t it be a fun one?”

“Fucking crazy, man.” The other man let out another guffaw before noticing the two men on the porch. “Oh, fucking ace, mate! Are y’all the new interns from England?”

Louis had never heard the word “y’all” come from an Irish accent before. Before he could form an answer, the Irishman continued.

“I’m so glad I’m not the newest kid on the block anymore. I’m Niall, by the way!” he said, stepping forward and shaking both of their hands enthusiastically. “I look forward to experiencing Texan culture shock with y’all. I’m Irish by the way.” 

Harry and Louis both nodded their heads as Niall kept talking.

“What were y’all planning on doing later? Liam and I were thinking of inviting y’all to Bracken cave so y’all can see some of the bats before the internship starts tomorrow. Would y’all be interested?”

Did Texans usually say the word “y’all” this many times? Was Louis going to be expected to say y’all? 

“We’re willing to share some beer with y’all and maybe get a bonfire going?” the other boy—Liam—piped up. “And it’s only an hour and a half drive, so we’ll be able to get there in time.”

And an _hour and a half_ was a short drive? Louis couldn’t imagine what a long drive would look like for an American.

“Wait, are you both interns too?” Harry asked, confused.

Liam and Niall both laughed.

“Nope, although y’all are our only interns this year. We’ve had some budget cuts due to some,” Liam looked uncomfortable, “national political changes in the past couple years. But I’ve been the PR director here for the past four years.”

“And I just got hired last month as Research Coordinator for the Wind Energy program here. The main reason we want to hang with y’all is because before we were the only non-Texans here.” Niall gestured at Liam, “This one is from the midwest and I lived in California to get my Masters, but Texas was still a huge culture shock for both of us, so we thought it would be cool if we introduced you to stuff. I know all the best barbeque and burger places in Austin!” 

Liam looked anxiously at the horizon. “We better get going soon to make it before sundown if we’re going to pick up supplies.”

“As long as we get beer and meat, I’m good.” Niall skipped towards a dusty, red truck. “Y’all coming?”

*

Louis was glad he followed Niall’s recommendation to grab a jumper, as the night quickly became cold as the sun set. At Niall’s insistence, they had picked up some brisket and beef ribs, along with some side dishes, to bring with them to the trail. Liam insinuated that the public weren’t allowed to get this close to the opening, but since BCI protects the Bracken cave preserve, they got special privileges to bend the rules. 

Louis was starting to learn that Liam was more like the worrying mother while Niall was the laid back dad in their relationship, as Niall tucked away his guitar for later.

(“We shouldn’t wake them up with noise before sundown!” Liam earnestly insisted through a mouthful of potato salad, as Louis and Niall teased him.)

Louis thought he knew what to expect from brisket, as Niall compared it to pot roast, and the beef ribs, but they exceeded his expectations. Each thin slice of beef was soaked through with spices and juices, which paired well with the pickles and bread Niall brought. Each rib was three times the size of his head, so big that Harry and Louis almost didn’t finish theirs. Everything was surprisingly fatty in the best way and the Shiner beer did add to the taste. Niall insisted that the Texan beer was “way less” dilated than other American beer, but Louis wasn’t sure. 

As they waited for the sun to go down, Louis sat back with his stomach full as Harry and Liam pitched horrible shirt ideas to each other.

“But what if you had a shirt that said Aero _bat_ ics with cartoon bats on the trapeze?” Harry insisted, before taking another bite of a biscuit smothered in gravy, which were apparently savoury in America? Another strike against the country, in Louis’ opinion.

“But what’s the message?” Liam slurred, “Everything is about educating the masses about how they batter believe bats are great! It has to be inspirational.”

Louis couldn’t stop a fond smile from building as Harry’s eyes got brighter with each pun Liam replied with. 

“What about a ‘you suck if you don’t like bats’?” Niall teased, as the other two ignored him. 

Liam looked near tears, “But that just propagates negative stereotypes about bats. There are over 20 million bats in this cave alone, what do you think people will do if they believe they drink blood for sustenance?”

“Over 20 million bats?” Louis screeched. 

He didn’t know there were that many bats in a country let alone one cave. The thought brought a chill down his spine. He had never seen one up close, but now the thought of seeing them all wake up together made Louis regret driving down with the pair.

“Well, technically it’s over 35 million right now because all the females just gave birth.” 

Louis shared a look with Harry, whose eyes bulged back at him with concern.

“Oh, it’s almost time!” Niall, ignorant to his companions’ nervousness, stood up and ushered them closer to the cave’s opening. “Most people don’t get to be this close when they all wake up, y’all are super lucky. Y’all are going to be right in the middle of the batnado!”

“Pardon me? The _batnado_?” Louis tried to turn back but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Look,” Harry whispered.

The first thing Louis registered was the sound of the flapping of wings, as tens by tens followed by hundreds of thousands of bats flew out of the cave opening. Their grey bodies circled them before flying off for food. Louis let out an involuntary laugh as he realized it did really look like a tornado made of bats. There was a sense of stillness in their little vortex as the wind drawn from the wings of the bats caused their clothes and hair to flutter. In the dim light of the sunset, Louis felt like the wind might pick him up to follow the bats’ path. 

The group of bats leaving the cave grew more and more until it felt like time had stopped. The only indication that it hadn’t was the every growing breeze. Louis involuntarily reached for Harry’s wrist. It felt almost hypnotizing to only have the sound of wings surrounding them.

He turned toward Harry to see him with tears in his eyes, following the bats with his eyes. Harry used his free hand to wipe his nose and Louis didn’t know where to look. 

“They’re beautiful,” Harry whispered, finally turning to Louis.

“Yeah,” Louis whispered back, staring at how the blood orange sunset reflected onto Harry’s face. With that green bandana in his hair, Harry looked different than he did before on campus. He looked like a vision.


	6. Love at First Bite

Louis was glad that Niall and Liam took them out before the internship started. It was only week two, but Louis felt like he was already drowning in work. So far they were splitting their time cataloguing sickly bats and helping Niall brainstorm with the new wind energy department at BCI. 

Apparently, as wind energy became more popular, more and more migratory bats were getting killed by the turbines. Niall’s assignment to both Harry and Louis was to brainstorm ideas to make wind energy safer for bats. 

Louis had felt a bit silly since that debriefing meeting with Niall. Maybe Harry, with his Social Policy experience, even as a freshman, was more qualified to be working here than him. Sure, Louis was an expert at getting any mammal to eat their food, but surely anyone could learn how to seem more approachable to animals. Not to mention how depressing it had been to learn that yet another animal was getting closer to becoming extinct.

On his paper, Louis marked down another newborn. He decided that when he got back to Donny he was going to apologize to Fizzy for teasing her for insisting that bats were cute. One of the baby bats clung to Louis’ arm with its paws like a sloth. Louis allowed it. He definitely did not coo when it yawned and nuzzled into him.

A curse resonated further along the cave corridor, where Liam and Harry were huddled together. Because there were only two interns this year, Liam had volunteered to assist them whenever he was free from PR work. Louis moved surreptitiously down the cave to find out the source of the curse, only to see a distraught Harry moving towards him.

The two of them had grown tentatively closer due to their close quarters. In order to diffuse the tension of sharing a bed, they would talk about their day and the various activities—both banal and exciting—before one of them fell asleep. Since then, Louis had learned Harry’s favourite things which included avocados (of course), his guitar (which he had unfortunately brought), and activism (which Louis supposed made sense given his major). 

There were some close calls in which Louis would find himself wrapped around Harry in the morning. He didn’t know how his sleeping body determined to be the big spoon to Harry’s taller figure, but (so far, at least) he didn’t think that Harry knew. Louis was used to waking up in the wee hours of the morning from working on farms in the past, so he would somehow extricate his arms and legs before starting his day with Harry none the wiser.

Harry had red eyes which means he either just finished crying or was just about to start.

Regardless of how much Louis insisted mentally that two weren’t friends, his heart soared at the thought that Harry turned to him when he was upset.

“Can I talk to you, outside?” Harry said lowly, sniffing slightly. So the tears were yet to come, then.

Louis eyed him carefully, feeling slightly cautious about Harry’s inevitable waterworks. “Yeah, sure.” 

Louis tried to get the young bat to get down from his arm. It responded by scurrying onto his back.

“Baby,” Louis sighed, “honey,” he tried to reach behind him to coax the baby bat down, it chirped back at him, somewhere near his neck now. “Please.”

“Wait, let me.”

Louis stilled as Harry gently laid his hand on his back. He felt the bat crawl closer to Harry’s hand before giving a small squeak as the other man lowered it to one of the cave’s perches. It’s beadlike, disproportionately large eyes stared back at Louis pleadingly, before giving up and jumping onto its mother’s back.

As Harry lead them out of the cave, Louis definitely did not look at his butt. Harry was an acquaintance at best, and Louis absolutely did not want to confuse that thought with any nighttime dreaming. Louis promised himself he had neutral feelings about his bed-sharing partner. He could appreciate that Harry was objectively very good-looking, but that didn’t mean that Louis was desperate to shag him.

“You’re right, I don’t deserve to be here,” Harry started, echoing the thoughts Louis had just pondered. Louis mentally added another tally on the theory that he could read minds before remembering that he probably should have Harry’s needs in mind, rather than his own.

Harry was really crying at this point, his cheeks bright red and rheumy eyes brimming with tears. Louis had noticed that he was a relatively silent crier. Back at Bristol, he would have poked fun at Harry for his sensitive nature or at least made a prank related to it. But here under the Texan sun, one Brit to another, Louis felt like he owed Harry a gentle ear.

“What are you going on about, love?” Louis fixed his fringe as he blocked the sun’s glare from getting in his eyes.

Harry sniffed again. “When you said a first year who knows nothing shouldn’t get to be part of an internship like this, you were right.” Well, Louis didn’t know if he was _that_ harsh about it. Maybe.

“I just can’t stand seeing these animals die and do nothing about it. The White-Nose Syndrome fungus just got discovered in Bracken cave last month and it’s already spreading like wildfire throughout the colony.” Harry ripped his bandana off of his head, before roughly fiddling with it. Louis suddenly felt an urge to cover Harry’s hands with his own, if only to calm his rigid movements for a moment. “Liam’s said it’s been decimating colonies throughout the world; our colony is bound to be next.”

“But then Niall said that our colony wouldn’t be hit as hard since they migrate during the winter,” Louis pointed out. He watched Harry’s averted gaze for a moment. “I feel like this is about something else.”

Harry threw up his hands. “Okay, maybe it’s because I feel like I’m fucking stupid. Every time we get debriefed on new information, everyone just nods like they understand so I feel like I have to too. Did you know our class was the only science course I’ve taken since secondary school? Because _I’m_ aware every time someone talks about platelets or Chiroptera—”

Louis cut in, “Harry, Chiroptera is what order of mammal bats are—”

“See!” Harry shouts before one of their fellow BCI employees shushes him. “How do you know that off the top of your head?”

“Harry,” Louis said gently, “I don’t think you’re having a breakdown because a veterinarian student knows the order of bats.”

Harry sighed and scuffed his muddy Chelsea boot across one of the boulders that marked the entrance of the cave. A grackle screeched in the distance as Louis waited patiently.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” Harry glanced at Louis, looking shy, as though they were meeting again for the first time. With a careful glance at Harry’s expression, Louis realised that he seemed rather sheepish. “But I feel like I need to tell somebody.”

The pair sat in relative silence as Harry attempted to form words. Louis fidgeted.

“I only wanted this internship because I desperately want to leave university,” Harry blurted out. He seemed to realize how much of a paradox his confession sounded. “I only applied to Bristol because my mum was so excited for her youngest to go off and make something of himself. What I really want to do is make music, but I suppose I was just waiting for something to give me the push to pursue my dream.

“But then the morning of that class where Professor Petyon announced the internship, an advert came on talking about how Austin, Texas was the live music capital of the world. And then suddenly the professor was talking about a free ticket to Austin. I mean,” Harry sighed, looking down sheepishly, “it just felt like fate screaming at me to do something. Like, I was making these unrealistic plans of just staying in America and never coming back. Maybe making a demo or something, even though I knew I would never get that far.

“And then,” Harry glanced up at Louis again, his eyes sparkling, “some small punk was challenging me to really want it, so suddenly I couldn’t back down, and it was like fate was really pushing me to pursue this dream. But now I’m suddenly in Austin, but I’m so tired every night watching these animals die and,” Harry got choked up again, “and my favourite boots are constantly muddy.”

“Alright,” Louis sighed, forcing himself to take a moment to consider Harry’s admission before he ran away with his thoughts. He knew there was a lot to unpack there. He decided to ignore the undeserved small comment until after Harry stopped crying. “So if fate is yelling at you to pursue your dream of music, why don’t we go chase it? It’s Friday night and Niall mentioned there are open mics all over the city. We’ll go to the best one he recommends, and if you’re not feeling up for singing tonight we can at least scope out your competition.”

Harry looked up and caught Louis’ eye, the jade shade ever more stark against his blotchy skin. He looked almost hopeful. “You mean,” Harry sniffed, his tears coming out full-force again, “you’ll go with me?”

“Of course! Do you really think you could make yourself go if you went alone?” Louis scoffed. “Come on, Curly, let's ask Niall where to go.”

Louis ignored the butterflies flying through his stomach as Harry gazed disbelievingly at him as he ushered the taller man back into the cave. He was just doing this so their bed didn’t end up tear-stained tonight, that’s all. Placating Harry absolutely was not his priority, nor his responsibility. 

*

“Are you sure you both don’t want to come with us?” Louis asked once again, as Patrick Swayze struck a pose on the telly.

Louis didn’t know if Niall and Liam were a couple or just very physically comfortable friends. When he first broached the topic of them all going to the bar Niall recommended, they begged off citing a weekly movie night. He gazed, with his chin in his hand, at the two lying on top of each other as ‘Dirty Dancing’ played in the employee lounge. 

Louis had to vacate his cabin because of the nervous energy Harry was exuding, as he ran back and forth from the bathroom mirror. Harry had vehemently announced that he wasn’t, under any circumstances, going to sing tonight, but Louis could sense that would change as soon as he saw a stage. 

Louis had learned that Harry carried a stage presence with him everywhere. When Louis first met him, that confidence had rubbed him the wrong way; he received it as prickish and originating from a place of conceit or vanity. It felt like the day they met, the day the internship was announced, was ages ago. He doubted the Louis from then would have been pleased to find out that the two were growing closer. It wasn’t like Louis had the time this summer to think negative thoughts about his surroundings, especially given how different everything was here. Even when it poured down in Texas, it didn’t get cold and gloomy like back at Bristol, and the sun would always come out after. 

Louis remembered distantly of when Harry compared him to the sun while they were drunk. He couldn’t stop a fond smile from growing on his face. Solely because the image of a dopey Harry was funny, that’s all.

Niall let out a huge sneeze into Liam’s armpit, where the lower half of his face was scrunched into, jarring Louis from his thoughts. Liam stroked Niall’s back as the two characters on screen crawled toward each other singing about lover boys.

“I’m ready!” Harry emerged in the doorway, giving a pose worthy of his outfit. 

Louis could see nervous energy buzzing underneath his skin as he adjusted his black, sheer shirt. Louis could feel himself blush as he took in Harry’s ridiculous outfit. On top of his head sat a wide-brimmed black cowboy hat that matched his ridiculous shirt and dark blue jeans that looked painted on. To cap the look, Harry had sparkling, golden boots that caught the fluorescent lights. Compared with Louis’ sensible, wide-necked red shirt, he felt underdressed. Louis suddenly felt rather hotter in his own outfit and knew that the Texas heat was absolutely not helping.

It seemed Harry could sense Louis’ nervousness. “We have to go now or else I know I’m going to chicken out.”

Niall groaned. “Liam, rewind it since the tall one cut in during the best scene.” He looked at the two near the doorway, “Have fun on your date. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

“It’s not a date!” Louis stuttered as Harry dragged him by the wrist towards their car. “And not doing anything that you wouldn’t do includes just about _anything_!”

“Exactly the point, my friend,” Niall called.

*

When they got to 6th street, where Niall had recommended Speakeasy—a bar that doubled as a music lounge—the road was closed as people pile out to stand on the street. Louis took hold of one of Harry’s wrists as they twisted between bodies to get to the strobe-filled building. 

As they entered, the noise from the street disappeared as a jaunty, country guitar resounded from the stage. Around them were small, round tables sprinkled around the room and on the balcony surrounding them. Fairy lights hung down around the bar to the side, making it glow like a beacon compared to the rest of the lounge soaked in darkness.

As the singer on stage continued to sing a country version of a Backstreet Boys song, a smiling man approached them, “Hi! Can I see y’all’s IDs? Also, are any of y’all interested in signing up for the open mic tonight?”

“Er,” Harry said.

As the bouncer marked Harry’s hands as underage, Louis wandered over to the bar. He hoped he could find a non-alcoholic drink that was sugary enough to kick Harry into getting off his arse. As he looked through the chalkboard with punny drink names that he was sure Liam would enjoy, he noticed someone approach him.

“Something like Shirley Temple sounds right up your alley, huh, Harry?” 

“I don’t know, I’m looking for something a bit harder,” an unfamiliar male voice whispered in his ear.

Louis jumped back as the stranger leered predatorily at him. The man looked him up and down, pausing for a moment at his backside.

“You’re not Harry,” Louis stated dumbly.

“I can be whoever you want me to be tonight, gorgeous.” The man winked and unabashedly gave Louis a once-over, his eyes roaming Louis’ outfit in a way that made him entirely uncomfortable. “Especially with that ass. Would you like to check if there’s a free bathroom stall for us, beautiful?”

“Excuse me?” Harry appeared behind him, his hand anchoring Louis. “My boyfriend and I aren’t looking for a third right now, thanks.”

Before Louis could open his mouth, Harry snapped an order at the bar staff before ushering Louis to a table near the stage and away from the startled-looking American. 

“Lou, are you okay?” Harry asked, staring anxiously at him, the furrow reappearing between his brows. “I’m sorry I acted like we were together, but I kind of just reacted to that asshole and that was the first thing I came up with.”

“You,” Louis shook his head, trying to get rid of the feeling he didn’t want to name that was bubbling in his chest, “you’re not allowed to buy alcohol here.”

“Oh yeah,” Harry looked relieved that he was talking again. “The bouncer mentioned that they served some non-alcoholic drinks here and I liked the sound of their Shirley Temple. Sorry, I ordered for you.”

Louis looked down at the matching red drinks that had a cherry floating on top. 

“You’re not talking again,” Harry observed, slurping at his Shirley Temple while glaring at something in the distance.

“Haz, I,” Louis looked down, feeling oddly shy for some reason. He struggled for a moment to vocalise exactly how to express the multitude of emotions he felt; confusion, gratitude, shock, indignation. “Thanks.”

They sat in silence as the singer changed to a country version of a Britney song.

“Haz, if you have the guts to shut down a creepy guy, I think you’re brave enough to get on stage,” Louis offered, before taking a sip of the Shirley Temple. 

It tasted like the colour red, sickly sweet with a hint of something bubbly. Louis had grown to learn that somehow Americans loved to make food that didn’t taste like anything real. He still didn’t know what blue raspberry meant, but he was not going to complain. He loved grease and sugar if it made him stop thinking.

Harry looked like he was contemplating Louis’ words before he abruptly got up and walked toward the stage.

*

Louis grumpily slurped his second Shirley Temple in response to Harry’s refusal to disclose what he was going to sing. 

“Hazza,” Louis extended the vowels in the new nickname, as he felt the sugar flow through him. “I’m not going to cheer you on if you don’t tell me who it’s by.”

“How are you always like this?” Harry’s words belied the soft way he was smiling back at Louis.

“And our next performer is: Harry Styles!” 

“Looks like that’s me,” Harry sent him a cheeky smile.

Louis acted like he didn’t care until Harry’s back was turned. He was already expecting that Harry would belt out either a top 40 song or some horribly abstract indie song; there was never any middle-ground with Harry. He watched as Harry took a guitar offered by one of the previous performers before walking up to the mic.

“Er, hi. I’m Harry,” he waved, squinting into the spotlight. “I want to be a musician and I want to dedicate this song to my friend, Louis. He pushed me to take a chance in the first step of pursuing my dream.”

A drunk person in the crowd gave a loud whoop of encouragement. Harry strummed the guitar absently.

“I’ve been working on this song for a while, and I was able to finish it shortly after we arrived in Austin. So here’s _Something Great_ for Lou.”

Louis held his breath as Harry started picking at the guitar:

_One day you'll come into my world and say it all_   
_You say we'll be together even when you're lost_   
_One day you'll say these words_   
_I thought you'd never say_   
_You say we're better off together in our bed_

If wood was a sound, Harry’s voice was mahogany; rich, deep and resonating, it hit Louis’ soul in a way he couldn’t quite describe (or fathom). It sounded like he was yearning for someone to take his hand and his life. Louis could feel Harry’s pain as he belted:

_The script was written and I could not change a thing_   
_I want to rip it all to shreds and start again_   
_One day I'll come into your world and get it right_   
_I'll say we're better off together here tonight_

Louis knew, realistically, that just because Harry dedicated the song to him, it didn’t mean the person Harry wrote the song for was _him_. It was probably an imaginary lover that Harry was craving, someone who wasn’t in his life yet.

As Harry started to slow down, he repeated the chorus one more time. The crowd grew quiet as his voice pleaded one more time:

_I want you here with me_  
Like how I pictured it  
So I don't have to keep imagining 

_Come on, jump out at me_  
Come on, bring everything  
Is it too much to ask for something great? 

Louis felt like there was something missing to wrap up the song; where was the resolution? Harry deserved to find that person who would respond. Someone who would take his hand and push him and kiss him and love him. At that thought, Louis came to a sudden realisation of something he had been ignoring for too long. He knew what those feelings that he’d been pushing down and excusing for were. Louis knew it for certain. He was irrevocably, undoubtedly in love with Harry.

As the crowd whistled and clapped, Harry ran back to their table with a wide grin.

“I did it! Lou, it was amazing! Did you see?” Harry jostled the table as he took Louis’ hand, “Thank you for pushing me, I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Harry squeezed his hand again, not letting go as the next performer walked up to the mic. 

Shit.


	7. Flying Blind

Louis could acknowledge that the way he was staring at Harry’s sleeping face was mildly creepy, but what was a boy with a crush on the person he was sharing a bed with supposed to do? Shortly after he realized how oblivious he had been for the past few months, Louis had had a minor freakout that led to Harry driving them both back to their shared cabin.

Louis was learning a lot about himself this summer, including the fact that the meaning of home while being 4,681 miles away from the world he was familiar with had turned into a person. Louis was surprised at first when he didn’t feel homesick, but that was because Harry was always with him. They literally lived and slept together, referred to the beat-up rental car as _theirs_.

And now, in the wee hours of the morning, as sunlight lit up Harry’s face, Louis yearned for this person who represented _home_ to be his. 

It was already in the middle of July and Louis felt like the internship was flying by. He hadn’t had the chance to ask Harry what he was planning to do, if they were both going to drive to the airport together or if Louis was going to spend fifteen horrific hours alone in an aeroplane. If Harry was going to stay in America, was it even worth confessing his feelings? Would they even have a future together beyond the short experience together in Texas? 

Louis knew that Harry wouldn’t feel the same way; Zayn hadn’t stayed so why would somebody else? But it would feel nice to let the words out so they wouldn’t stop beating against his heart like bees stuck in a bottle. Every time Harry shared a look with him when Niall said something outrageous, he could feel the sting; when Harry looked at him for approval every time he helped Liam pitch another punny PR idea, the buzzing would get louder.

But what if, in a situation that only happened in his dreams, Louis told Harry and he reciprocated his feelings? Would Harry give up on his dreams to be near Louis as he finished his degree? Would Louis be able to live with that guilt? Would it be too much to ask of a boy he’d only known for a couple of months, but who have managed to carve a bat-shaped hole in his heart?

“You’re breathing really loudly, Lou,” Harry mumbled into his pillow. “Wait, don’t stop.”

Louis realised that while he was mentally running in circles, his hands had been pulling and stroking through Harry’s mane of hair, which was quickly becoming tangled and matted beneath his fingertips. His hair had grown much longer during the summer and had reached the middle of his neck in length. To Louis, it felt like Harry was evolving to look like an angel, although Harry kept insisting that it was in its awkward phase.

Louis hated how in love he was. It felt so different from the way he’d felt with Zayn. Nothing was easy about this love; every touch and look from Harry left tingles rushing through him and heated his skin in a way that left him flustered and breathless. Louis was starting to realise that what he had with Zayn was entirely different; it had been like pushing a best friend to become a lover without any of the complicated feelings involved. It had been safe, Louis realised, but nothing compared to the thrill and the rush of emotion that ran deep in his love for Harry. 

“Yesterday you said your leg was cramping,” Harry said through a yawn, finally opening his eyes. “Do you want me to massage it?”

Louis knew he should say no, but, “Get on with it, Hazza. I’m expecting a five star experience. It’s the least you can do to make up for your abysmal snoring last night.”

Of course, he had done his best to treat Harry the same as he always did, although admittedly with more smiles and patience. Harry seemed to like it when Louis teased him. Louis thought he deserved a medal from refraining himself from kissing Harry whenever he did anything.

Louis sat up against the headboard. Harry crawled closer to him giving a smirk that could have meant naughty things were to come if Harry was with anyone else. Louis closed his eyes as he felt a large hand take hold of one of his calves, digging into the muscle. 

Louis bit his lower lip to suppress a moan as Harry performed magic on his legs. Harry’s touch was intoxicating; smooth and sensual and gentle, it set Louis’ skin alight. “Do you know what we’re doing today?”

Harry hummed. “I think Niall mentioned that we’re working on fixing some parts of the bat bridge after the storm last night.”

A few blissful moments went by as Louis’ legs turned into goo, before Harry spoke again. “I’m writing a new song. Do you want to hear some of it? I’ve only got the chorus right now.”

Louis opened his eyes, “Of course, Haz! Do you need your guitar?”

“No, I can do it here.”

Harry looked nervous as he tapped a beat onto Louis’ calf for a moment:

_I know when we started_  
Just two hearts in one home  
It gets harder when we argue  
We're both stubborn  
I know, but oh 

_Sweet creature, sweet creature_  
Wherever I go, you bring me home  
Sweet creature, sweet creature  
When I run out of road, you bring me home 

Louis knew, logically, that this song couldn’t be about him. But it was always strange how Harry was able to reference something that he was only thinking about minutes earlier. The way Harry’s hoarse, sleep-ridden voice resounded around their cabin put Louis in a daze. He desperately wanted to be the person Harry was singing about. He wanted every love song Harry wrote to be about him.

Louis wondered who the song was for. There were a couple BCI workers who flirted with Harry, he mused, but Harry didn’t seem particularly enamoured by them. Although the way Harry sang the song was oddly bittersweet. Perhaps it was out of heartbreak that Harry had written it, Louis considered, pulling himself into a more comfortable position.

“Harry, are you going back to Bristol?” Louis didn’t know what prompted him to say it, but he knew it was the wrong response.

Harry froze, before getting up. He carefully avoided Louis’ gaze. “I think Liam is calling for us outside. I should go shower.”

Louis hadn’t heard anything.

*

Louis set down another piece of concrete into the wheelbarrow with a groan, rubbing at his eyes. The storm last night had struck lightning near the bat bridge and had caused parts of the pillar to crumble. The infrastructure was sound, but Addison had assigned his interns to clean the area up so no stray rocks happened to hit any kayakers lounging on the Colorado River. Louis had surmised that Harry was avoiding him after what happened in the morning, as he hadn’t volunteered to help Louis transfer the rocks. 

Louis looked down the steps where Niall and Harry where practically lounging by the riverside. Harry turned to Niall with a serious look on his face. Louis should have signed up for that lip-reading elective at college. He wondered if any of them would notice if he sneaked up to them; maybe he could fill one of the buckets with water. It wouldn’t be a horrible prank—the sun was high in the sky at 37 degrees Celsius. Louis wiped his sweaty forehead with the dusty rag hanging near him, before quietly trudging towards the two.

As he got closer he heard Harry sigh.

“... used to work at a bakery so I could do food service, although I’d prefer not to.”

“Nah mate, with those dimples you’d be raking in tips,” Niall said. He tore at some tufts of grass around his feet and sprinkled the blades over Harry’s shoes. “I’ll keep my ears open. And, hey, you’ve got my couch until you find some proper housing—no pressure or time limit, mate. I’m glad you decided about the other thing too, I know it’s been hard sharing the cabin with him.”

Louis stopped in his tracks, ice in his veins. He suddenly felt like an intruder who very much no longer wanted to be part of the narrative.

He was a fool. Harry knew about his feelings and he was uncomfortable. And he’d been narrating the whole thing to Niall. Fuck, did _everyone_ know? 

Louis could see it. All of his co-workers in the lounge laughing around the watercooler as Harry told everyone about how Louis stared at him as he slept, how Louis was hopelessly in love with him to the point that Harry felt uncomfortable sharing a cabin together. Louis could see Addison chuckling about how he added Louis as an intern for the entertainment. Suddenly, everything made sense.

_Isn’t he a creep? As if I would be interested in that mess_ , Harry would say as everyone laughed.

He could taste bile as he remembered the way Zayn would call him a needy bitch when he would call him crying after a nightmare weeks after the funeral. Why did he always fall for unsympathetic, self-centred jerks?

_It’s been so hard to not laugh in his face_ , Niall would guffaw.

Liam would—Liam couldn’t be in this, could he?

How long had this charade been going on? Had Harry been talking behind his back before Louis had even realized his feelings? Louis felt like he was going to throw up as he remembered how oblivious he had been, perfect for a laugh.

Harry gave a squinty smile as he put his hand up to escape the sun, “Yeah, I’m going to do it soon. I’ve been trying but—”

“Louis!” Niall’s voice held a note of panic. “How long have you been there?”

“Lou?” Louis didn’t know when Harry had come up to him. He flinched as Harry reached for his arm. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”

“I don’t feel good, I’m going to go back to the cabin,” Louis choked out, dropping the bucket. It fell to the ground with a clank, but Louis didn’t seem to care. The water flooded out as he ran away, just like he always did.

*

**Liam:** heyy

**Liam:** are youu okay?

**Liam:** Ni told me you werre feeling sick

**Liam:** Harry made you chicken soup but he said yuu were acting wierd around him. Can i come aroundd?

**Liam:** i can see you reding my texts louis

**Liam:** that was your last warning. Im coing in

Louis threw his phone and tried to find something to do that would make Liam go away, as he heard the front door of the cabin squeak open. A delicious, savoury scent wafted towards him as Liam appeared in the doorway. Louis tried to look unbothered by Liam’s puppy-dog eyes. Louis’ stomach, the traitor, growled in response.

“Hey,” Liam paused, looking him up and down as if his stare could determine how bad Louis was feeling. “So I’m getting the feeling you’re more sick emotionally than physically.”

Louis crossed his arms, he didn’t know if he could trust anyone anymore, and that included Liam.

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Liam held up a bag as if he was trying to appease a wild animal. “I also brought kolaches?”

Louis sighed before beckoning him closer. Ever since Niall had introduced them to the Czech baked goods that were popular in Texas, Louis had replaced the Big Mac as his comfort food. Louis sighed in sated content as he bit into one of the pulled pork kolaches. It was jarring that there were practically no fast food chains in Austin. He hoped Liam was aware that he was not sharing any of them. He deserved these.

“So,” Liam sat on the other end of the bed. “Do you want to talk about whatever you’re going through.”

Louis stuffed another kolache into his mouth, his mind momentarily preoccupied with the bliss of licking peach jam off his fingers. He could drown his feelings in food, it was a perfectly healthy coping strategy.

“You can tell me anything, I promise I’ll try to help! Are you homesick?” Liam looked worriedly as Louis went through the bag. “You can just call me daddy.”

Louis finally looked up and raised a judgemental eyebrow.

“Wait. No. I was just trying to make it clear you can trust me!”

Louis finally smiled, even though it still felt like his heart was breaking, “Never change, Leemo.”

“Alright, alright,” Liam acquiesced the chicken soup container as Louis made grabbing motions towards him. “What’s been bugging you?”

“Has Harry been,” Louis looked down, feeling uncomfortable in his skin, “telling y’all things about me?” Louis’ Yorkshire accent stretched the “y’all” out, making him sound like a real Southerner for just a moment.

“Um!” Liam looked around the room nervously, confirming Louis’ suspicions. “Like, yeah? But it was mostly about how smart you are and, uh.” Liam’s eyes darted across the room, avoiding Louis pointedly and confirming Louis’ suspicions.

Liam looked too anxious to successfully lie to Louis, and he decided to use that to his advantage, “Does he say anything bad about me?”

“No! Never, Louis,” Liam insisted earnestly.

Louis glared at him, just to make sure Liam was telling the truth. When all he received was a wide-eyed pout, he sighed. Maybe Harry was just talking about the bad stuff to Niall, then.

“Well, did you know that Harry has plans to stay in Austin after the internship?”

Louis opened the container while maintaining eye contact to make sure Liam didn’t lie to his face. The delicious scent grew stronger as he brought the plastic spoon up to his mouth. The flavour of chicken melding with leeks and carrots burst onto his tongue. Louis involuntarily closed his eyes in bliss. He didn’t know Harry could cook, especially this well. What was this boy’s motive?

Liam watched him with a hint of a smile on his face. “I knew he wanted to but I didn’t know he decided to go through with it.”

So it looked like Niall was Harry’s sole confidant. That was fine.

“Louis, what is this about?” Liam asked eventually, a note of earnestness in his tone.

Louis chewed on a juicy piece of chicken. “I—er—overheard Niall and Harry talking earlier. And Niall mentioned that Harry had made a ‘decision’ about me, and I was wondering if you knew what it was about.” He stirred the bowl. “It’s not like I’m upset that Harry feels more comfortable telling Niall that he’s staying since he avoided the question this morning with me. Or that I’m worried that they’re talking about me behind my back—”

“Louis,” Liam interrupted, looking fully serious, something that was rare in the time Louis had known him. “I promise that what Harry is talking about regarding you is nothing close to what you’ve cooked up in your head. And I’m pretty sure you’re going to find out what’s been going on really soon.” Liam leaned forward, looking around before lowering his voice. “Like, _really_ soon.”

When Liam smiled awkwardly at him at the lack of response, Louis sighed, before stuffing another spoonful of Harry’s delicious pity soup into his face.


	8. A Change of Battitude

Louis actively avoided being alone with Harry for the rest of the week, even though it made Harry’s frown grow each time. Once Harry stayed behind a meeting, leaning against the wall as if he wanted to talk to him, so Louis had thrown Liam’s notepad on the ground and ran. He just couldn’t stop himself, really. It was like Louis’ fight or flight response had changed to just flight. 

It’s not like he believed that Harry was talking behind his back anymore. That boy always wore his emotions on his sleeve, and Liam was unlikely to lie to him about Harry’s intentions—the American didn’t seem to have an evil bone in his body. Nor a funny bone, for that matter, unless one counted bat-themed jokes which Louis surmised that very few people would.

But that didn’t mean Louis had dismissed the idea that Harry was uncomfortable around him, and every day it was getting harder to stop himself from discussing what was really happening between the two. Louis still didn’t know what Harry’s decision regarding him was, and it had been even more confusing when Liam said whatever it was the opposite of Louis’ fears. 

Well, there had been a hint of a fleeting hope that maybe, however small the chance may be, Harry returned his feelings. But as soon as that wish appeared in Louis’ head he had buried it deep down. He had to keep his expectations low or risk heartbreak and disappointment.

And sure, _maybe_ that encounter with Keanu had made Louis realise he _could_ be depressed. But he was coping! He had done something spontaneous, just so he could say he had, so he could form an attainable plan for the rest of his life that _would_ go according to plan or else he would break. And Louis had already accepted that Harry just didn’t fit into the plan. He was like starlight; too brilliant and too unpredictable to fit. It wasn’t like Louis _had _to love his future partner. In fact, it would actually be easier to just find somebody who he could tolerate. Maybe someone named George who would just wear pastels and file their joint taxes and do all the boring housework and support Louis when he founded his own veterinary practice.__

__It seemed the higher ups, specifically Addison, had grown tired of the drama between his interns as both Harry and Louis were assigned to guide one of the bat tour groups. Tourists would sometimes reserve a time to see the bats in Bracken cave or ask to have a guided tour to learn more about the bat bridge in Austin. Louis normally loved interacting with the families, especially when the teenagers would look up from the phones to appreciate how wonderful bats were. It was truly a unifying exhibit that captivated everyone that visited._ _

__“And here is where the bats scoot backwards through the gap in the bridge to sleep during the day.”_ _

__He would have jumped at the chance to walk several miles under the glaring sun with Harry if it had been a week ago._ _

__Louis maintained a pasted-on smile as he observed their group for the day. There were about four dads with Longhorn caps with horns on them, so chances were they were here for orientation at the state university. A couple of the mums giggled as Harry continued talking, glancing at each other as Harry continued in the accent that stuck out like a sore thumb in the city. As Louis came up to stand beside Harry; he couldn’t resist glaring at the women, not because he was jealous since he didn’t have the right to be, but just because of the stark age difference between the two groups. Not to mention the fact that Harry was wearing a rainbow bracelet, which should have made his orientation quite clear to the women._ _

__There were about thirty minutes until the bats would emerge, which meant thirty minutes until they could return to their cabin, Louis supposed. As Louis and Harry led the group down the incline under the bridge, to the complaints of some of the older tourists, Louis rolled his eyes where no one could see him. The reserved space under the bridge was really the only advantage to the tour, why else had these privileged fucks sign up for the tour?_ _

__Louis wondered if he could survive in a car alone with Harry without blurting out something embarrassing._ _

__“We’ve provided some cold water for y’all as we wait for the bats to come out. It’s complimentary!” Louis dug into the water cooler he had been dragging behind him for the last hour, he felt bad for basically forcing Harry to do the tour alone._ _

__Just as he went to grab the last water, a hand reached out, eclipsing his own, as they both grabbed the bottle. Louis tried to not obviously flinch. The ringed hand lingered for a moment, grazing his hand and sending shivers up Louis’ arm._ _

__“You know, you’re not exactly subtle.” Oh, Louis knew. He distantly remembered shrieking as he had thrown that notepad across the room. “I know you’ve been trying to avoid me, and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to tell me why. But I was thinking that I could help you get your mind off of whatever you’re going through tonight?”_ _

__Harry seemed nervous, Louis decided, and he was not sure what to do with this information. Was he uncomfortable or did he have a confession to make, perhaps?_ _

__“What? Is the next season of British Bake-Off finally on Netflix?” Louis couldn’t stop his mouth from responding._ _

__“Not exactly,” Louis could hear Harry smile, though he didn’t dare look up at him. “Niall mentioned that the skate centre is hosting an Austin Pride gay roller skate tonight. I thought we could go together. Just us,” he added quickly._ _

__Well, it wasn’t like they were going to be alone in the roller rink. And it _was_ for Pride. Ignoring the way his heart leapt in his chest at the prospect of spending time with Harry at a Pride event, Louis nodded tersely. _ _

__“Fine.”_ _

__*_ _

__If Louis didn’t know better, he would think this was a date._ _

__After barely interacting for the past week, it seemed like Harry was trying to make up for last time. Harry wasn’t particularly graceful when walking on two legs, but when he added some wheels to his shoes, the boy acted like a newborn foal. Every time he was about to take a spill, Harry would reach for a part of Louis, _any_ part really, to keep himself from falling down._ _

__At one point, Louis had pitied him and had offered his hand, which now led to them skating in circles hand in hand._ _

__“Y’all are a cute couple!” a herd of lesbians shouted as they hurtled the other direction._ _

__Louis stuttered as Harry yelled back, “Thanks!”_ _

__As Ricky Martin sang about living la vida loca while the scent of hot dog water wafted over to them, Louis felt like he was the main star of an American young adult movie. When he looked over at Harry to voice his thoughts, he found that Harry was already looking at him with a wide grin._ _

__He yelled over the music, “Watch this!”_ _

__Harry got in the pre-cartwheel position, something Louis was familiar with after living in a house full of his sisters. Before Louis could let out a warning, however, since he was absolutely certain that Harry wasn’t capable of a cartwheel on two _solid_ shoes, Harry crumpled without lifting a foot. He collapsed onto the coated wood flooring in a tangle of limbs and a high yelp._ _

__Louis knew that he should have checked if Harry was okay, but involuntary giggles burst out of him instead. They grew uncontrollable when Harry’s head peeped up at him, wearing an indignant glare masked by a bashful smile._ _

__Harry got on his hands and knees and tried to get up but fell down in another sweep of gangly arms and legs, as Louis’ laughs grew louder. He clutched his stomach as Harry made another attempt before finally clinging onto the wall to push himself closer to Louis._ _

__“Thanks, Haz, I really needed that,” Louis gasped as his giggles finally died down. Harry pushed himself from the wall once more, his face set in a nervous sort of smile until they were only a hand-width apart._ _

__Just as Louis was about to make a joke about personal boundaries, Harry moved even closer. Louis could see spots of acne that he had grown to love waking up to and the curve of his mouth and—_ _

__At first, Louis thought Harry was stumbling again. Everything in the room slowed down and grew quiet as Louis’ eyes flickered across Harry’s face. They were only centimetres apart now. What was Harry doing—_ _

__He didn’t know the sequence of events. One moment he was forming a question and the next moment his breath was taken. Harry’s lips were on his, and it was like kissing a thunderstorm, but he was flying. Harry’s lips were soft and warm because he always ran warm which made him kick the blankets and Louis’ eyes fluttered closed as he tried to capture this moment before he realized he should maybe reciprocate. But then suddenly Harry was backing away and Louis wondered if he was waking up from a dream._ _

__Louis exhaled, eyes opening, and saw Harry was staring back, aggressively biting his lip. The very same lip that was just on him. The lip that Harry bit whenever he was worried or anxious or about to run away. Harry stared at him for another long moment before turning away._ _

__No._ _

__The ground was shaking. Or was that just Louis’ heartbeat? He couldn’t tell, he couldn’t focus on anything other than Harry running away from him._ _

__He caught Harry’s hand and pulled him towards him, spinning him like they were a scene in one of Liam’s ridiculous dance movies. Harry caught himself on Louis’ chest, his hands clutching Louis’ shoulders for balance._ _

__Louis didn’t know what came over him. Maybe it was the creeping acknowledgement of the fact that they were on a date that he had obviously ignored. Maybe it was the fact that even Keanu Reeves, unconfirmed immortal, had deemed him worthy of a happy life. Maybe it was the realisation that he didn’t want to live in the shadows anymore, trapped behind the walls that he made himself. What was it worth keeping his heart locked away if it meant that he could never experience this?_ _

__Louis clutched Harry’s back before dipping him and he’s leaning over this boy who’s managed to burrow into his heart as he presses their lips together again._ _

__He should have expected Harry to fumble and bring them down onto the ground again. But Louis wasn’t bothered. Louis tried to soften Harry’s fall, his hands now buried in Harry’s hair, without taking his lips off him. The mere thought that he was finally kissing Harry, _actually_ kissing him, made him smile as the kiss got messier between the two. He can distantly hear people wolf-whistle as rainbow clad skaters keep circling the rink, but he didn’t care. _ _

__When Louis finally eased back their lips disconnecting with a smack, Harry looks dazed, and maybe a little relieved, and Louis was still on top of him._ _

__“Oops,” Harry whispered, his eyes wide and disbelieving._ _

__“Hi,” Louis whispered back._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is a slut for "Oops" "Hi" moments? *raises hand*


	9. Radar Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am an American who's knowledge about British schooling is based solely on Skins and a long distance relationship with a British brony while in high school.

Louis didn’t normally walk outside in 4 in the morning. But it seemed he only did it after spending the evening trading little kisses on the sidelines of a roller rink, long after they announced last call. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that they lost track of time due to the novelty of feeling safe under the rainbow-coloured strobe lights reflecting off the coated flooring.

As they walked out of the skate centre hand in hand, something that flipped Louis’ stomach, Louis marvelled at how quiet it was. Usually in Bristol the night never stopped, lads would be shouting at the inundated bartender for an Addison Lee while lights and music blared in the distance. 

Maybe it was because they were in the American South on the off-season. Or maybe the universe was paying Louis back after giving him shit for the past few years. But here, at least in central Austin, it felt like they were the only people awake for miles. 

“Race you to the bridge!” Harry hollered into the darkness before taking off, his long hair flowing after him.

Louis huffed playfully, striding just behind him with his shorter legs. He’d much rather watch Harry’s nice little body stumble ahead of him instead of concentrating on breathing evenly. Only a few hours ago he’d thought being so close to Harry was torture; which was partially true, he wanted Harry to unzip him and know all his secrets so he didn’t feel so alone anymore. He _wanted_ Harry to be his. 

Which would hopefully happen if Louis didn’t die from forced exercise first.

“Harry,” Louis gasped breathlessly, clutching onto the ledge of the bridge just seconds after Harry. “You’re a fucking monster.”

Harry only replied with a series of uncontrollable giggles. The full moon illuminated his face as she came out of the clouds, like a spotlight pointing to the bane and light of Louis’ summer. He felt lighter, watching the ripples of Lady Bird Lake—just him, Harry, and the moon. He thought about the night his mum came back home after Dan proposed, how she smiled, looking freer than he’d seen her for a while. He wondered if she was watching over him, if she liked Harry.

“I wanted to be a doctor when I was little,” Louis kept looking at the water as he spoke, feeling Harry’s gaze on him.

Everything was quiet, save for the water and the few bats coming home early from their nightly feast.

“My mum worked in the hospital with the babies, so whenever she couldn’t find a sitter I would watch the births and help the nurses wash off the little babes. They all said I was a natural and I wanted to help people. And it helped to know they made a lot, I always dreamed of buying me mum a house bigger than she knew what to do with. Mum was so proud when I told her.”

_My little boo bear is going to make me so proud, isn’t he_ , she would say, beaming, before chasing him around the house to put on some fucking trousers.

“But then the first year I was preparing for my A-levels, mum got diagnosed,” Louis sniffed, not daring to look over at Harry. “Chronic leukaemia. The doctors didn’t catch it until it was almost too late. And I was just so _angry_. How did the doctors catch it so late? Didn’t they care that our world was tearing down right before our eyes?” He sighed. “I thought that blaming them would take some of the pain away, but they were only there to make her pain easier to bear. To the best of their ability at least.”

Louis exhaled slowly, he remembered laughing at first because he thought it was a joke. Sure cancer happened to people, but it couldn’t happen to _his_ mum. She was too strong.

_Louis stepped outside of the sickroom, hands on his knees as his gasps turned into sobs after the door shut behind him. He can still hear the beeping of the monitor attached to the wires that was his mum, and Louis was so tired of being the rock for his sisters while studying to become one of the doctors who would stare at his mum while they wrote things down, like had lost all empathy for the people they were taking care of. And it was just all too much._

“But I understood why the doctors were numb to everything around them. I mean, just imagine having to tell family after family that one of them was going to die. Imagine telling a family just while their mum was starting to get better that she was relapsing again and was definitely not going to make it. After going through that, I just couldn’t imagine being around all that sadness.

“Actually, I couldn’t imagine anything.”

_“Why aren’t you revising? I thought evil Ms Logan assigned you an exam this Wednesday,” his mother teased, although it sounded more like a series of wheezes through the tube in her throat. The sound was unbearable and it broke Louis’ heart, shattering it to a million tiny fractures._

_Louis didn’t want to tell her now. The past few months felt like both the longest and shortest of his life. Everything felt grey and mushy, like the dirty, slushy snow outside._

_“What’s knocking around your head, sunshine?”_

_“I don’t want to be a doctor anymore. I don’t know what to do,” Louis said, looking down; he didn’t want to see her disappointment. “Been thinking of dropping out, maybe just not doing my A-levels.”_

_He couldn’t bring himself to look at his coursework, everything had something to do with blood or genes and then he would feel nauseous. At this point he was only going to his drama modules, another point for his mum pushing him to do something fun to fall back on._

_“Oh darling, just hold on,” his mum said gently and squeezed his hand, still so strong despite all of her pain. Louis didn’t know how she did it. He was sure that Lottie could see right through him whenever he cooked the one meal he knew and smiled saying everything was fine._

_“You don’t have to be a doctor to make your mother proud. Just be happy—you can find a new dream.”_

“When she passed I completely fell apart,” Louis murmured into the darkness. “I never really believed in God, but in those months all I did was yell at him. Why did he have to take her? Why couldn’t he have taken me instead? I completely shut my remaining family out, I didn’t go to school, I didn’t eat. The only thing I did was talk to Clifford.

“Clifford was our family dog, a really big, black labradoodle. He liked me best, I think. Whenever I cried Clifford would go up to me, lick my tears, and then would just cuddle me. It made me feel like someone cared, you know? And when things got really bad, mentally like, he gave me the strength to keep living.” Louis played with his fingers, he’d never told anyone this before, not everything. “And then one day it hit me that I could become a vet with my A-levels and I could help animals just like Clifford helped me. So then I decided to become the best veterinarian possible so I can make my mum proud.”

He finally turned to look at Harry. He was afraid that he would be bored by Louis harping on about his life story, leaving the conversation to gaze at his phone. After all, what he was best at was convincing himself that no one cared. Instead, Harry’s gaze met his, eyes brimming with tears and snot running down his face in a manner that should have been disgusting, and Louis realized he never felt more in love.

“I think your mum would be proud of you no matter what you do, Lou. You’re so strong,” Harry sniffed. “Can I hug you?”

“I— yeah,” Louis sighed, closing his eyes, as Harry wrapped him up in a warm embrace that felt like a band-aid to the parts of himself he’d exposed.

“I’m not that strong, it’s just what I want people to think. I’m pretty gooey and soft inside,” Louis murmured, embarrassed after those kind words.

“Do you see those seven stars up there? Next to the other band of stars?” Harry pointed up to the clear stars, “That big cluster is Ursa Major and the other one is Ursa Minor. They say Zeus fell in love with a beautiful nymph who had a child together. But Zeus’ wife, Hera, got jealous so she turned the nymph into a bear. Years later, her son saw her and got scared because, you know, she was a giant bear. 

But before anything could happen, Zeus took the two and put them in the sky and now they’re always next to each other, after getting separated that whole time before, I guess. Er, but now his mother is always watching over him and us. So I bet your mum is still watching over you just like Ursa Major, and if she can see you the way I do she has to be proud.”

Louis gazed up into the sky. He never really paid attention to the myths associated with the stars. He could imagine his mum as a bear, though. It seemed perfectly fitting and comforted him, somehow. Louis remembered her coworkers calling her a mama bear whenever all of his siblings played around in the hospital.

He let out a watery chuckle. “Yeah. I guess she is,” he said, rubbing his arms as the night—or well the morning got chillier. “Thanks for listening to my rambling. When I— With Zayn, I— Clifford passed away last year and I kind of relapsed mentally. Zayn said it was stupid, breaking down because of a dog, but...he was more than that. Zayn kind of gave up on me after that.”

“Well he’s a dick then,” Harry stated, as if it were that easy. “And, don’t take this the wrong way, but have you thought of therapy?”

Louis shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about everything he’d been through with a stranger who was getting paid to pretend to care. Although he did feel better after finally talking through his feelings. Louis rubbed at his chest, he supposed he could give it a chance.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for not telling you about my decision to stay in Austin. You mean a lot to me,” Harry’s ears turned pink. “I guess I felt telling you would make my decision more real.”

For some reason, while telling Harry his life story his eyes had remained dry, but at that confession— Louis felt his eyes sting, he brought a hand up, blinking rapidly.

“I know we only have a few weeks left before summer ends,” Harry exhaled harshly. “Look, the UK is crumbling, nothing is for certain, but I would just love to call you my boyfriend for just a moment.”

Louis hiccuped—was it a laugh or a sob? He wasn’t sure. 

He threw his arms around Harry’s neck and got up on his tip-toes, “Yeah, yes, definitely.” Louis captured Harry’s mouth with his, kissing him softly and slowly. “Let’s make these weeks the longest Austin has ever seen.”

**_2 Years Later_ **

Louis did not know that graduating from university would be so emotionally taxing. First, there was the Veterinary Science school graduation, followed by the LGBT+ graduation, with the university-wide ceremony at the end of the week. 

And the whole time, during the pauses where students would groan under the weight of the heavy robes as organizers whispered frantically, people would whisper about what was to come after. Some already had jobs lined up, others had plans to travel before even thinking about applying, while the majority were planning to go back to their hometowns to figure out the next chapter in their lives. Every time they turned to Louis to see what he was doing, he felt a little bit unsure of his plans. 

Part of him was surprised that he made it this far to graduation after everything that happened in the past five years. There was another part that was so overwhelmingly happy to start the next part of his life that he couldn’t believe that it would actually happen. Would the figure who his plans hinged on still want to be involved with him?

But Louis had made it. Well, almost.

Lottie had made him promise under the threat of death to have his Saturday afternoon free for a party she was planning in his honour.

Louis wanted to be excited about this week, but he couldn’t brush off the feeling that someone was missing. Harry had sounded devastated when Louis told him the dates for his graduation, since ticket prices to England during July were sky high. They had made plans for Louis to fly out to Austin after his lease ended in a week, but it wasn’t the same. 

Louis felt butterflies flutter in his stomach. He had opted to not tell Harry his plans to open a veterinary practice in Austin. The whole plan had been up in the air until last month when he finally received news that the application for the building space got approved. He didn’t think Harry would be mad about the surprise, after all he had sounded so ecstatic when Louis had approached the idea of staying at Harry’s for the summer. Louis was bursting with excitement to reveal the news to Harry, if only to hear this predictably endearing squeal.

The couple had only been able to meet four times in the past two years, specifically during his school breaks. Long distance relationships were hard, Louis felt like he was holding his breath whenever he didn’t have Harry close. 

He was so proud of his boy though. He’d screamed over the phone when Harry told him he got a gig at Austin City Limits. It had been a small venue, but Louis could tell through Niall’s Facetime that it had been packed. He knows his boyfriend is going to go so far, and he can’t wait to be beside him every step of the way.

He couldn’t wait to breathe easily again with Harry next to him. He missed being able to kiss him everywhere and tease him and braid his hair during the sticky summers in Texas. Only one week more.

“I’m really proud of you, you know,” Lottie chimed, shaking Louis from his pining. “Me brother graduated with a first in Veterinary Science, Fizzy wants to be just like you.”

“Cheers, Lotts,” he laughed. “I really love what you did with the place, very posh.” 

Lottie had kicked him out of his flat earlier in the day to get it ready for the party, and Louis did not know what he had expected. He didn’t know anyone could buy this many streamers and look sane. Hanging on the walls were all the animal based decorations Lottie could find, which included My Little Pony and Winnie the Pooh merchandise. 

Lottie playfully shoved him, “Just be glad I didn’t spring for the petting zoo.”

At Louis’ raised eyebrows, she sighed, “Dad’s idea.”

Doris ran underfoot, almost making Lottie drop the cake box in her arms. Louis eyed it, he really hoped it was chocolate ice cream cake.

“Achoo!” She stared up at him, her eyes begging him to pick her up.

“How’s my darling girl?” Doris giggled as he placed her in his lap and played with her hair.

He felt guilty that was leaving his family behind, an ocean, and a thousand memories away. 

Something must show on his face as Lottie shakes her head, “Mum always said you were her sensitive boy. I know it hurts for you to go back to Donny when all you see are ghosts. Living in Austin will be good for you. All we want is for you to be happy.” She smirks, “Plus I’m expecting my favourite big bro to provide an excuse to go to SXSW and ACL.”

“Yeah, yeah, all you see is free room and board,” Louis smiled. “I love you so much, you know that?”

She laughed before heading into the kitchen, “Oh you better be singing my praises after tonight!”

*

Louis grabbed another beer from the fridge, “I can’t remember the last time our flat was so packed.” 

Stan leaned against the counter beside him and hummed. Ever since Lottie grabbed his roommate and whispered something to him in his room, his flatmate hadn’t been able to look him in the eye. Louis sized him up, he better not be dating his little sister.

Just as Louis was about to start his interrogation, Lottie barged in to shout, “Cake time!” 

With a manic smile, she grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dining table where a large chocolate ice cream cake sat proudly with five candles burning brightly. He supposed it stood for the five years he’d slaved away waking up for eight am modules and placements.

He laughed as Lottie led his family and closest friends to a rousing song of “Happy Graduation to you,” to the tune of the Happy Birthday song.

“Make a wish!” Phoebe yelled, her phone out, probably Snapchatting or whatever teens did these days.

Louis closed his eyes and formed a wish for something he knew couldn’t happen. Just as he was about to open his eyes, he heard a familiar goat-like laugh.

“Oh, shit!” Louis gazed dumbly on a red-faced Niall who was trying to hide behind Fizzy.

But if Niall was here—

Louis stood up, his chair clattering behind him, as his eyes searched through the sea of faces until he looked into wet, frog-green eyes.

“Oh my God—” Louis covered his mouth, knowing Phoebe was recording him tearing up.

“Go to him!” Stan cheered.

Louis didn’t know who moved first across the small space. He jumped into Harry’s arms, trusting that he would catch him, just like he always did.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked the fic, please think about reblogging the Fic Post And feel free to chat me up on my tumblr friendofhayley !


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